SANJEEV NARULA, J. (Oral):
1. These five matters are being disposed of by this common order. They
arise out of the affairs of the same recognised private school, namely
Dayanand Adarsh Vidyalaya, Tilak Nagar, and, though instituted by
different Petitioners, raise substantially common questions. The core
controversy in the batch concerns salary and service dues, and the legal
effect of the school having stopped functioning from 1 st April, 2020 without
any formal order of closure from the Directorate of Education. One of the
matters is a contempt petition instituted by Vishwajyoti. The others are writ
petitions by present or former members of the teaching and non-teaching
staff. The overlap in facts, record, and issues is such that the matters are
more appropriately decided together than in isolation. It is clarified that, for
the sake of convenience, references to the parties by their respondent
numbers are in terms of their array in W.P.(C) 5053/2020, and the same
nomenclature is followed for all connected petitions.
Claims and controversy