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Hemnani Public School vs. Ipsa Gurnani & Anr. and connected matters

Writ Petition (Civil) · CNR No. DLHC010143802018Decided 13 Oct 2026New Delhi Bench
W.P.(C) 1101/2018, W.P.(C) 7885/2018CNR: DLHC010143802018
Justice Sanjeev Narula

Background

Ipsa Gurnani, Vice-Principal at Hemnani Public School, was terminated in February 2017 after disciplinary proceedings. The Delhi School Tribunal set aside her termination, holding the School was not a recognised linguistic-minority institution and so needed prior government approval (which it hadn't obtained) to terminate her. The School challenged this before the High Court, producing evidence that the Delhi education department had in fact treated it as a Sindhi linguistic-minority school.

Decision Breakdown

The High Court held that Hemnani Public School is indeed an unaided linguistic-minority educational institution, so the usual requirement of government pre-approval for termination did not apply to it, contrary to what the Tribunal had assumed. However, the Court did not simply reinstate the termination: it found the Tribunal never examined serious fairness objections Ms. Gurnani had raised (such as whether people who testified against her also sat in judgment on her case). The matter was sent back to the Tribunal to decide those fairness questions afresh, on a four-month priority timeline.

Lesson Learnt

A school's "minority institution" status (which exempts it from certain government oversight of staff discipline) can be established through official correspondence and historical records, but minority status does not excuse a school from giving an employee a fair disciplinary process.

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