MUMBAI, Sept. 7 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed orders of the additional commissioner of tribal development, Thane, denying regularisation of service to six teachers who served in tribal ashram schools in Shahpur, after serving for a decade or more in a region where other qualified teachers were unwilling to serve. The court noted that the state tribal welfare department runs ashram schools "to provide essential education to tribal children in the remote, hilly and geographically challenging terrains". Its order mentioned that "due to lack of basic civic facilities in these small villages, qualified staff are not willing to serve, leading to a critical vacancy crisis, where schools are often on the verge of closure". It was under these circumstances, the court noted, that the state government, instead of issuing public advertisements, appointed the petitioners as secondary and primary school teachers on daily wages, clock-hour, or honorarium basis as they had the the requisite qualifications, "so that tribal students would not be deprived of their fundamental right to education". Observing that the state government is expected to act as a "model litigant", a division bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe said in their order, "Wherein it has been categorically held that where the petitioners have been working continuously for ten years on a meagre honorarium, asking the petitioners to continue to work on such honorarium for such a long period would certainly amount to their exploitation." The petitioners had contended that the orders of January 13 and 14 passed by the additional commissioner of tribal development, denying the regularisation of service and corresponding financial benefits to the six petitioners, had disregarded previous high court rulings. The judges observed, "Where appointments are not illegal but possibly irregular, the need for a fair and humane resolution becomes paramount."...