New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has held that unaided recognised private schools can force teachers to take premature retirement, saying it "eliminates stagnation" and
"promote vibrancy" in organisations.
"An order of compulsory retirement is an important tool to keep any organisation vibrant and to prevent its clogging and decay by sheer weight of long standing employees who have ceased to be the dynamos to propel the organisation further and for achieving its goals," Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said.
Turning down the plea of a trained graduate teacher that there is no public interest involved in forcing her to retire, the court said schools should not be forced to continue with ssuch person's service at the cost of future citizens.
"The public interest in imparting education in the school
requires vesting of powers with the recognised schools to
compulsorily/pre-maturely retire teachers who fail to ignite
the minds of students and fail to inculcate in them the
inquisitiveness and knowledge," the court said.
It held the order forcing an employee to retire could not
be treated as a punishment and carries no stigma.
The right of the employer to ask for compulsory
retirement of an employee will be limited only after he/she
attains a certain age, the court said.
It passed the order on a petition filed by Leela Sharma,
who had joined the service in 1988 as a TGT, challenging the
decision of the school to force her to take premature
retirement.
The school had contended that Sharma joined the service
at the age of 45 years when it was not recognised by the
government while the maximum age stipulated under the law was
30 years.
However, after being recognised by the government, the
authorities started pressing for her retirement as per the
norms of the Delhi School Education Act and Rules.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, June 06, 2010, 10:56