The Allahabad High Court has held that the Assistant Librarian in Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi cannot be treated as teaching staff. Therefore, the interim order allowing the petitioner to work from the date of retirement till the end of the term cannot be held correct.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Piyush Agrawal passed this order while hearing a Special Appeal filed by Vice Chancellor, Sampurnanand Sanskrit and another.
Interim order dated March 28, 2022 passed by the Single Judge has been impugned by filing the intra-Court appeal claiming that by way of the aforesaid order, final directions have been given as the writ petitioner, who was working as an Assistant Librarian and was due to retire on attaining the age of superannuation on July 31, 2021 (62 years), has been allowed to continue in service till completion of the academic session. He has been treated to be part of the teaching staff, which he is not. As the interim directions have been issued, which are in the nature of final order, the same need to be set aside.
Counsel for the respondent no 1( Jitendra Kumar Tiwari) has referred to a communication dated March 11, 2015 from the Chief Secretary, State of Uttar Pradesh to all the Universities and Colleges, whereby, according to him, the librarians have been treated as teaching staff.
He has also referred to another letter dated August 31, 2016 from the Chief Secretary to the Director of Higher Education. Reference has also been made to the earlier orders passed by the Court, which have been referred to in the impugned order.
After hearing Counsel for the parties, the Court found that the interim directions issued by the Single Judge, in fact, grant final relief to the respondent no 1, as he has been allowed to continue in service till conclusion of the academic session on June 30, 2022.
The Court held that the respondent no 1 was working as an Assistant Librarian in the University. The same is not a teaching post in terms of the applicable Rules. It is only teaching staff which has been allowed to continue in service after attaining the age of superannuation till the academic session completes. As the respondent no 1 is a non-teaching staff, he cannot be permitted to continue in service till he attains the age of superannuation. In none of the communications referred to by the counsel for respondent no 1, it has been stated that Librarians in the College/University shall be treated as academic staff, in absence of any course or study in the Institute where they are imparting any education in the subject.
“For the reasons mentioned above, in our view the interim direction issued by the Single Judge, allowing the respondent no 1 to continue on the post of Assistant Librarian during the pendency of the writ petition order dated March 28, 2022 though he had attained the age of superannuation on July 31, 2021, is set aside,” the Court observed while allowing the appeal.