Judgement
This is an application under Art. 226 of the Constitution for the issue of an appropriate writ to direct the Senior Deputy Inspector of Schools, Gannavram Range, and the State of Andhra, represented by its Secretary, Education Department, not to enforce Rr. 3, 4 and 5 of G. O. Ms. No. 418, Education and Public Health, dated the 24th of February, 1939.
2. The applicant has been working as an elementary school teacher since 1940. He was elected as the Secretary of the Elementary School Teachers Association Centre, Telaprole, for a number of terms. He was also elected as the Joint Secretary of the Andhra Rastra Elementary Teachers Federation, Vijayawada, in 1954 The Elementary School Teachers Association Centre. Telaprole was constituted under the rules framed in G. O. Ms. No. 418, Education and Public Health, dated the 24th February, 1939. Rules 3, 4 and 5 run as follows :
"(3) All teachers (men and women teachers) in recognised elementary schools, whether under public or private management in the area served by the Association, including teacher-manager in the area, shall be members of the Association. None other than these shall be admitted as members.
(4) The Association shall meet once a month preferably on a holiday at a convenient centre and with a programme of work determined at the previous meeting. A teacher who absents himself from two consecutive meetings will be liable to be punished by the controlling authority, the controlling authority for the purpose in the case of a school under private management being the Deputy Inspector, Senior Grade, or the Sub-Assistant Inspectress, as the case may be.
(5) The Deputy Inspector (Senior Grade or Junior Grade) or the Sub-Assistant Inspectress of Schools having jurisdiction in the area served by the Association, shall be ex-officio President of the Association. When the ex-officio President is unable to attend a meeting, the teachers assembled shall elect a President from among themselves. The members of the Association may elect a Secretary and Treasurer from among themselves subject to the approval of the President."
3. It is submitted by the petitioner that the rules have the result of abridging the fundamental rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution, and more particularly, Art. 19 (1) (a) and (c). The contention in brief is that the aforesaid rules in so far as they make it compulsory for every teacher, in an elementary school, to become a member of the Association sponsored by the Government, at the risk of suffering disciplinary action, are inconsistent with the fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution.
4. In the counter-affidavit filed by the Assistant Secretary to the Government in the Education Department, it is submitted that the Association has been sponsored by the Government with the object of increasing the efficiency of teachers; that making the membership of this Association compulsory to every teacher under R. 3, does not in any way violate the fundamental right of the petitioner; that it is in no sense a restriction imposed upon his fundamental right guaranteed to him under Art. 19 (1) (c) and even assuming that it is a restriction, it is in the interests of public order and morality.
5. Article 19 (1) (c) of the Constitution declares that all citizens have the right to form associations or unions and clause (4) of art. 19 provides that a law imposing a reasonable restriction on the right of association can be made only in the interest of public order or morality.
6. What is claimed in this writ petition is not the right to form an association but the right to refuse to belong to an association or union. As has been pointed out in Suryapal Singh v. U P. Government. AIR 1951 All 674 at p. 698 (FB) (A), the right to form an association or union necessarily implies that a person is free to refuse to be a member of an association or union, if he so desires.
7. In R. v. Dr Askew. 1768-4 Burr 2186 at p. 2200 (B), the rules had been stated thus :
"If the inhabitants of a town are incorporated, yet every one must be admitted before he becomes a corporator. The Crown cant oblige a man to be a corporator, without his consent : he shall not be subjected to the inconveniences of it, without accepting it and assenting to it."
8. Rule 3 of the impugned Rules makes it compulsory for every teacher to become a member of the Association which has been sponsored by the Government. The first part of R. 4, which provides that the Association shall meet once a month at a convenient centre, is not objected to. But that Rule further provides that a teacher who absents himself at two consecutive meetings is liable to be punished by the Controlling authority. Rule 3, to the extent to which it makes it obligatory on every teacher to become a member of the Association, abridges the rights of the teachers inasmuch as they are denied the right to refuse to become members of that Association, if they so desire.
A person has as much right to become a member of an Association as to refuse to become a member of that Association. Rule 3, by making it compulsory that every teacher should become a member of the Association and the sub-paragraph of R. 4 providing, as it does, for the punishment of the person who absents himself from two consecutive meetings by the controlling authority, certainly infringes the right of a teacher which, though not expressly guaranteed by Art. 19 (1) (c) of the Constitution, is implied in it.
9. It is contended by the learned Government Pleader that the petitioner has been a member of the Association for a number of years, that he was also its Secretary and that therefore it is not open to him to contend that Rr. 3 and 4 are bad. I do not think that the fact that the petitioner has been a member of the Association or its office-bearer, precludes him from contending that these rules infringe his rights.
10. It is then contended that in any view, it is a reasonable restriction conceived in the public interest, as the membership of the Association would increase the efficiency of the teachers. There may be several legitimate ways of improving the efficiency of teachers and methods for achieving that objective may be devised, but they cannot be compelled to become members of an association with penalties attached to their refusal to comply with the rules.
11. In the view I have taken, namely, that a teacher cannot be compelled against his will to become a member of an association and that R. 3, which provides for compulsory membership of all the teachers in the Government sponsored associations, is invalid, the further question as to the validity of R. 5, which provides that the members of the Association may elect a Secretary and Treasurer from among themselves subject to the approval of the President, does not arise.
12.In the result, I hold that Rr 3 and 4 in G. O. Ms. No. 418, Education and Public Health, dated the 24th February, 1939, in so far as they empower the authorities to make it obligatory on the part of every teacher to become a member of the Association, must he declared to be void as constituting an abridgment of the right guaranteed under Art. 19 (1) (c) of the Constitution. The application is allowed to this extent and the petitioner will have his costs from the respondents. Advocates fee Rs. 100/-.
Application allowed.