1 2025:CGHC:29406 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPS No. 5105 of 2025 1 - Pramod Kumar Pandey S/o Manharan Lal Pandey Aged About 42 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Kauwatal, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 2 - Rashmi Chhabra D/o Keshar Singh Chhabra Aged About 44 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Girls Primary School Limtara, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 3 - Bindu Ratre D/o Lal Das Ratre Aged About 48 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Tikrapara Malhar, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 4 - Govind Prasad Sahu S/o Jagsay Sahu Aged About 45 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Navagaon, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 5 - Kishor Kumar Sharma S/o Ram Kumar Sharma Aged About 38 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Darrabhatha, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 6 - Mamta Ekka W/o Santosh Ekka Aged About 46 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Devgaon, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 7 - Pratima Yadav D/o Vinay Gopal Yadav Aged About 40 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Janpad Primary School Chouha, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 8 - Surendra Kumar Gupta S/o Kishan Lal Gupta Aged About 50 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Dhangawa, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 9 - Durga Khare W/o Dinesh Khare Aged About 40 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Nawadih, Block VED PRAKASH DEWANGAN Digitally signed by VED PRAKASH DEWANGAN Date: 2025.09.23 19:38:09 +0530 2 Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 10 - Vrindavasi Raj D/o Shyam Kumar Raj Aged About 40 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Risda, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 11 - Mamta Dewangan W/o Santosh Kumar Dewangan Aged About 50 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Kara, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 12 - Gayatri Rathore W/o Rajeshwar Rathore Aged About 41 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Bhatapara Bhadoura, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 13 - Kalpana Sharma D/o Uttam Kumar Sharma Aged About 42 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Janji, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 14 - Saroj Rathore W/o Dayashankar Rathore Aged About 46 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Khaira, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 15 - Smt. Asha Namdev W/o Shrawan Kumar Namdev Aged About 56 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Darrighat, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 16 - Smt. Preeti Tekam W/o Vijay Tekam Aged About 45 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Pendri, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 17 - Yogesh Kumar Bhardwaj S/o Shri Siyaram Bhardwaj Aged About 47 Years Presently Working As Head Master And Posted At Govt. Primary School Sothi, Block Masturi District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Secretary, Department Of School Education, Mahanadi Bhawan, Mantralaya New Raipur, District Raipur (C.G.) 2 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Secretary, Administration Department, Mahanadi Bhawan, Mantralaya New Raipur, District Raipur (C.G.) 3 - Joint Director Directorate Of Chhattisgarh Public Instruction, Third Floor, Indravati Bhawan, Naya Raipur, District Raipur, (C.G.) 3 4 - Financial Controller Samagra Education Chhattisgarh Raipur Ekikrit Shiksha Bhawan Second Floor, Board Office Premises Tygor Nagar, Pension Bada Raipur, District Raipur, Chhattisgarh 5 - Joint Director Education Division Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 6 - Collector Bilaspur District Bilaspur (C.G.) 7 - District Education Officer Commitee Bilaspur District Bilaspur (C.G.) 8 - Block Education Officer Block Masturi District Bilaspur (C.G.) ---- Respondent(s) (Cause title taken from Case Information System) For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Ajay Kumar Chandra, Advocate For Respondent(s)/State : Mr. S.P. Kale, Additional A.G. Hon'ble Shri Justice R avindra Kumar Agrawal Order on Board 01/07/2025 1. The petitioners have filed the present writ petition challenging the order dated 27.05.2025, by which certain primary schools have been merged with the middle schools in Bilaspur district and the petitioners prayed the following relief(s) in the writ petition:- “(i) That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to call for the entire record pertaining to the case of the petitioners, in the interest of justice. (ii) That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to set-aside/quash, the impugned letter dated 27.05.2025 and list (Annexure P-1) in respect of reflected school name of the petitioners, within stipulated time, in the interest of justice. (iii) That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to 4 quash the impugned rationalization guidelines dated 02.08.2024 (Annexure P-2) passed by the respondent no. 1, in the interest of justice. (iv) That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the respondent authorities to consider grievance of the petitioners within stipulated time, in the interest of justice. (v) Any other relief which may be suitable in the facts and circumstances of the case, may also be granted.” 2. Learned counsel for the petitioners would submit that, the petitioners are Headmasters at various primary schools at Bilaspur district, whose schools are reflected in the list issued on 27.05.2025 for their merger with the middle schools. The name of the schools, where the petitioners are posted as Headmasters are given hereinbelow:- S.No. Petitioner's school name Reflected name of the Sr. No. 1 Pramod Kumar Pandey 164 2 Rashmi Chhabra 173 3 Bindu Ratre 189 4 Govind Prasad Sahu 166 5 Kishor Kumar Sharma 133 6 Mamta Ekka 175 7 Pratima Yadav 143 8 Surendra Kumar Gupta 150 9 Durga Khare 165 10 Vrindavasi Raj 174 11 Mamta Dewangan 172 12 Gayatri Rathore 119 13 Kalpana Sharma 186 14 Saroj Rathore 120 15 Smt. Asha Namdev 191 16 Smt. Preeti Tękam 118 17 Yogesh Kumar Bhartury 177 5 3. Learned counsel for the petitioners would further submit that by the merger of the primary schools into the middle schools would substantially affects the studies of the students and the petitioners also adversely affected by the said merger. There is no need to merge to those primary schools into the middle schools, as there are sufficient number of students and teachers. Under the garb of rationalization, the State Government is going to close those primary schools, in which the students are imparting elementary education and by the merger of the primary schools into the middle schools, the service conditions of the petitioners would also be changed. A huge number of primary schools are proposed to be merged in the middle schools, which does affect the entire education system of the State. The said merger of the schools are also against the setup fixed by the State Government vide circular dated 02.05.2022, therefore, the impugned order dated 27.05.2025 with respect to the petitioners’ schools may be quashed. 4. On the other hand, learned counsel appearing for the State, on instructions, would submit that the petitioners are working as headmasters at different primary schools in Bilaspur district. They are having no locus to challenge the merger of the schools, as it is the consideration of the State under the Rationalization Instructions and in strict compliance thereof, the primary schools are proposed for merger in the middle schools throughout the State. Clauses 1-A and 1-B of the Rationalization Instructions dated 02.08.2024 provided for merger of the schools under the rationalization and it is for the authorities concerned to decide the requirement of merger of the schools under 6 the surrounding circumstances, therefore, there is no ground available to the petitioners to challenge the merger of the schools, as there is no prejudice caused to the petitioners, nor their service benefits are prejudiced, therefore, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed. 5. I have heard learned counsel for parties and perused the material annexed with the petition. 6. The petitioners, who are the headmasters and are posted at different primary schools in Bilaspur district are challenging the merger of their primary schools into the middle schools in Bilaspur district. It is relevant to quote here the provisions of merger of the schools under the Rationalization Instructions dated 02.08.2024, which reads as under:- “एक - शालाओं क यु क्तियु करण प्रदेशा में लागभग बड़ी संख्यु में क्तिक्तिभन्न क्तिद्यालायु क संचालान एक ही परिरसंर में ही$ रही ही%। एक ही परिरसंर में संचालिलात क्तिनम्न प्रकर क क्तिद्यालायु क यु क्तियु करण बच्चा क+ शा%क्ति,क ग णत्ता क+ दृक्ति/ सं क्तिकयु जान ही1- A. एक ही परिरसंर में संचालिलात शालाओं क यु क्तियु करण2 - 01. एक ही परिरसंर में संचालिलात दे$ यु दे$ सं अलि4क प्रथक्तिमेंक क्तिद्यालायु क यु क्तियु करण। 02. एक ही परिरसंर में संचालिलात दे$ यु दे$ सं अलि4क प67 मेंध्युक्तिमेंक क्तिद्यालायु क यु क्तियु करण। 03. एक ही परिरसंर में संचालिलात प्रथक्तिमेंक, प67 मेंध्युक्तिमेंक क्तिद्यालायु क यु क्तियु करण। 04. एक ही परिरसंर में संचालिलात प67 मेंध्युक्तिमेंक ए हीईस्क6 ला 7 क्तिद्यालायु क यु क्तियु करण। 05. एक ही परिरसंर में संचालिलात प्रथक्तिमेंक, प67 मेंध्युक्तिमेंक ए हीईस्क6 ला क यु क्तियु करण। 06. एक ही परिरसंर में संचालिलात प्रथक्तिमेंक, प67 मेंध्युक्तिमेंक, हीईस्क6 ला ए हीयुर संक ण्डर क्तिद्यालायु क यु क्तियु करण। 07. एक ही परिरसंर में संचालिलात हीईस्क6 ला ए हीयुर संक ण्डर क्तिद्यालायु क में क्तियु करण। B. कमें देजा7 संख्यु ला शालाओं क यु क्तियु करण :- 10 सं कमें देजा7 संख्यु ला प्रथक्तिमेंक/ प67 मेंध्युक्तिमेंक शालाओं क क्तिनकटस्थ शालाओं में संमेंयु$जान क्तिकयु जायुग। नक्संला प्रभक्तित ,त्र ए दे6रस्थ नचाला क क्तिद्यालायु क लिलायु यु क्तियु करण हीत क्तिन47रिरत मेंपदेण्ड क बजा6दे लिजाला संक्तिमेंक्तित क अध्यु, कलाक्टर क युही क्तिकलि4कर ही$ग क्तिक ऐसं क्तिद्यालायु क स्थनयु परिरस्थिस्थक्तितयु क$ ध्युन में रखत हीCयु यु क्तियु करण पर क्तिचार कर संक ग। एक ही स्तर क दे$ क्तिद्यालायु लिजानक बचा क+ दे6र कमें ही$ युथ ण7 संख्यु भ कमें ही$, उनक संमेंयु$जान क्तिकयु जायुग। ऐसं शालाओं क+ परस्पर दे6र शाहीर ,त्र में 500 मेंटर तथ देजा7 संख्यु 30 सं कमें ए ग्रामेंण ,त्र में दे6र 01 क्तिकला$मेंटर सं कमें तथ देजा7 संख्यु 10 सं कमें ही$, क यु क्तियु करण क्तिकयु जाएग।” 7. The petitioners, who are the headmasters in different primary schools in Bilaspur district, have no right to object in the merger of the schools, as it was the discretion of the authorities concerned under the surrounding circumstances. When the authorities have taken a decision for merger of the primary schools into middle schools throughout the State on the recommendation made by the Director, Public Instructions, it cannot be said that it is arbitrary or against any provisions of the Rationalization Instructions. The petitioners could not demonstrate as to how their service benefits would be affected from 8 the said merger. Total 10463 schools in the State are considered for Rationalization looking to the requirement of Teachers and number of students at various places. I do not find any palpable infirmity in the rationalization of the school and merger of the primary schools in to the middle schools of Bilaspur district. Further, the petitioners are not claiming the violation of their fundamental rights, but they are challenging the merger of the schools, and therefore, they are not entitled for any relief in the present writ petition. 8. In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, no case for interference is made out in the present writ petition. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) Judge ved