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The Delhi High Court bench of Justice Manoj Kumar has issued a notice in the writ petition filed by a teacher of Delhi Public School (DPS) Mathura Road against the allegedly "arbitrary denial of promotion to Vice-Principal".

The Petitioner has alleged that the school is "motivated by personal vendetta" and that there is a "strong bias operating against her".

It is the case of the petitioner that on January 22, 2018, the petitioner had made a sexual harassment complaint against the then Principal of DPS, Mathura Road, and the same is presently under sub-judice before the Hon’ble court for final arguments.

The Petitioner also alleges that she had also been denied promotion from TGT (Geography) to PGT (Geography) by the School despite having 26 years of experience with ‘Good’ noting on ACR (Annual Confidential Reports) merely because she had reported sexual harassment complaint against the erstwhile Principal of the School.

The Petitioner further alleges that the school has tarnished her reputation, that the Department of Higher Education order dated March 14, 2019, and this Hon’ble Court with the order dated October 22, 2019, has directed the School to expunge the said remarks but the same has not been complied with.

Furthermore, the petitioner alleges that the School neither communicated any adverse ACRs nor did they communicate any reason to the representation addressed through the Direct Promotion Committee (DPC) for her claim of Vice-Principal.

“The due process of DPC has not been complied with by the School and has arbitrarily promoted the present private respondents to the posts of Vice-Principal without any notice for constitution of DPC” the petitioner added.

The Learned counsels Ashima Mandla, Mandakini Singh, and Syed M. Ahmad for the Petitioner in the writ petition mentioned an Apex Court judgment of H.M. Singh, VSM v. Union of India & Anr. (2014) where it was held -

“That eligible candidates have a fundamental right to be considered for promotion against the available vacancy and promoted if adjudged suitable”.

Non-consideration for promotion is violative of the fundamental rights of the Petitioner under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

The matter has been listed for hearing on July 16, 2022

Case Title: Anupama Khanna v. Delhi Public School Mathura Road and Ors.