Statutory appointment power does not imply dismissal authority for pre-existing teachers under takeover provisions.

The text examines whether a statutory power of appointment under the Assam Elementary Education Act, read with the Assam General Clauses Act, also authorises dismissal of teachers appointed under the earlier regime. It states that the dismissal power extends only to persons appointed by that same authority in exercise of its appointing power, so teachers taken over under the takeover and deemed-employment provisions were outside the Assistant Secretary's competence. It further says a general deeming clause cannot displace the specific provisions governing earlier appointments, and that policy resolutions or letters do not themselves amount to operative termination orders.

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Issues: Whether the Assistant Secretary of the State Board had authority under section 14(3)(iii) of the Assam Elementary Education Act, 1962 read with section 18 of the Assam General Clauses Act, 1915 to terminate the services of teachers appointed before the Act came into force, and whether the impugned terminations could otherwise be sustained as acts of the State Board.

Analysis: The power under section 14(3)(iii) was the power of appointment vested in the Assistant Secretary, but section 18 of the Assam General Clauses Act, 1915 authorises suspension or dismissal only of persons appointed by that very authority in exercise of its appointing power. Teachers taken over under section 34(2) and deemed employed under section 38 had been appointed earlier by School Boards under the repealed regime, not by the Assistant Secretary under the new Act. The general deeming clause in section 55(2) could not override the specific provisions dealing with takeover and deemed employment. The resolution of 20 November 1962 and the letter of 15 December 1962 were treated as policy directions, not as operative orders terminating individual services, and the State Board itself had not passed effective termination orders.

Conclusion: The Assistant Secretary had no power to terminate the services of the respondent-teachers, and the termination orders were invalid.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory power to appoint carries a power to dismiss only in respect of persons appointed by that authority, and a general deeming provision cannot displace specific takeover and employment provisions governing earlier appointments.

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