Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Jan 29: The High Court has turned down the inclusion of bureaucratic member in school fee panel by striking down the Section 20A in Jammu and Kashmir School Education Act.
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The Division Bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar has held that Section 20A(2) of the Jammu and Kashmir School Education Act, 2002, to the extent that it carves out a role for a retired person who has held the office of Financial Commissioner or above in the Union Territory to head the Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC), cannot be sustained in law and is liable to be struck down from the statute book.
While upholding the overall validity of Sections 20A to 20J introduced through S.O. 3466(E) of 2020, the bench ruled that the leadership of the FFRC must strictly conform to the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Islamic Academy of Education and Modern School cases.
The Court observed that the Supreme Court had unequivocally mandated that such fee regulatory committees must be headed only by a retired Judge of the High Court nominated by the Chief Justice, given the quasi-judicial nature of the functions performed by the FFRC.
Rejecting the State’s attempt to extend eligibility to retired Financial Commissioners or senior bureaucrats, the Court held that the Supreme Court’s directions could neither be “tweaked nor twisted” to justify such appointments. Consequently, Section 20A(2), to that extent, was ordered to be removed from the statute book.
“This direction could not have been tweaked, much less twisted, to carve out a role for a retired person who has held the office of Financial Commissioner or above in the Union Territory,” the Bench said, adding, “Sub-section (2) of Section 20A is admittedly not in consonance with the judgment passed by the Supreme Court and, therefore, cannot be allowed to remain on the statute book.
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