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2013 DIGILAW 651 (ALL)

Priyanka Pandey & Anr. v. State of U. P. Through Secretary & Ors.

2013-02-26

A.P.SAHI

body2013
Amreshwar Pratap Sahi, J.— Heard Sri Kushwaha for the petitioner and Sri R.B.Pradhan for the respondent. This is a case from the eastern conservative district of Ghazipur. The petitioners appear to be engaged as Shiksha Mitra in the year 2008. They worked and received their honraria. It appears that the petitioners came closer and also got married. It is alleged that the tying of the nuptial knot was against the wishes of their families,as it was an inter caste union and this pressure compelled them to leave the Village in 2010 thereby abandoning their teaching job. Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that in a similar matter of Sunaina Devi and her husband, the District Magistrate passed an order permitting them to rejoin the institution. It is alleged that in the said case also the Shiksha Mitra and her husband had married against the wishes of their parents. One wonders what happens in primary schools where some other forms of friendship flourish between Shiksha Mitra's of the opposite sex at the cost of basic education. Such activities should not be encouraged by conceding in favour of romanticism. This is not to criticize about any body's private life, but to prevent any wrong message flowing from a public performance that too in the School of tiny tots. After all a decent level of morality has to be maintained especially in a primary education institution where the first foundations of an innocent mind are laid. To allow this form of preaching to be visibly practiced before youngsters between the age of 5 and 12, is to add to their mental misery that is already beset with pitfalls of daily television viewing at home. It might have an adverse effect added and topped up with the parents and guardians contributing to this exercise. Modern advances in life, like the freedom of choice of a life partner, is too serious a subject matter to be made a gossip between children of an unripe and premature age. The discretion exercised by the District Magistrate in the matter of Sunaina Devi was in 2009 when the Scheme of Shiksha Mitra was in existence. The scheme has now been abandoned on 2.6.2010. No doubt the petitioner may have a case to press into service on the alleged ground of discrimination but the same does not appear to be a legal ground. The scheme has now been abandoned on 2.6.2010. No doubt the petitioner may have a case to press into service on the alleged ground of discrimination but the same does not appear to be a legal ground. The background of a romantic runaway marriage may have been condoned by the District Magistrate treating the period of absence as a honeymoon holiday, but it does not have any lawful foundation so as to draw a similar inference. The claim appears to be more of a movie script than a genuine legal pursuit. If the petitioners gave up their source of livelihood by abandoning it for some bigger sacrifice, the law cannot prevent them from doing so or extend any benevolence. The petitioners are therefore not entitled to any sympathy. A reunion on the post of Shiksha Mitra in this cinematic background after a lapse of several months through a writ petition filed after more than two years, on a discovery of a similar theatrical incident, does not raise a legal ground to examine discrimination. The scheme of Shiksha Mitra having been abandoned the claim of the petitioners cannot succeed. The writ petition lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed. _____________