Court No. - 54
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 42469 of 2019 Petitioner :- C/M Dr Ram Ugrah Singh Smarak Inter College And Another Respondent :- District Inspector Of School Jaunpur And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Indra Raj Singh,Adarsh Singh Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Kailash Nath Singh
Hon'ble Rajiv Joshi,J.
Heard Sri Indra Raj Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners, Sri Radha Kant Ojha, learned senior counsel assisted by Sri Kailash Nath Singh, counsel for respondent no. 5 and learned standing counsel representing the State respondents.
By this petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution, the petitioners seek a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing order dated 27.11.2019 passed by the DIOS, by which order for single operation of accounts has been passed and further a direction restraining the respondents from interfering with the peaceful functioning of the petitioner-committee of management.
Submission of the learned counsel for petitioners is that since the petitioner-committee of management is managing the affairs of the institution namely Dr. Ram Ugrah Singh Smarak Inter College,Pokhra,Dobhi, Jaunpur and salary bill of the institution upto the month of November, 2019 has been signed by the petitioner-management, therefore, the petitioner-committee of management is in continuation. It is further contended by Sri Singh that without there being any default on the part of the petitioner-committee of management and without giving any notice or affording the opportunity of hearing, taking recourse to second proviso of section 5 of the U.P. High School and Intermediate Colleges (Payment of Salaries of Teachers and other Employees) Act, 1971, the order impugned for single operation of accounts has illegally been passed by the DIOS, which is liable to be set aside. Learned counsel for the petitioner in support of his submissions has relied upon the decisions in (i) Committee of Management Gandhi Smarak Inter College,Agra and another Vs. DIOS Agra and others, ( 2001) 2 Education and Service Cases - 857, particularly paragraph 8 & 9 thereof, (ii) Committee of Management Janta Inter College Vs. State of U.P. and others, Writ-C No. 35815 of 2019 and (iii) Committee of Management Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Inter College Vs. State of U.P. and others, Writ C No. 38997 of 2019, decided on 11.11.2019 and 28.11.2019 respectively appended as anneuxre-21 to the writ petition.
On the other hand, contention of learned Senior Counsel Sri Ojha is that alleged election held by the petitioner-committee of management on 28.7.2019 has not yet been approved by the competent authority and even signatures of the Manager are yet to be attested and in this view of the matter there is no legal and valid committee in existence managing the affairs of the institution. In support of his contention, Sri Ojha has placed reliance upon a Division Benh decision of this Court in Committee of management of Shri Nehru Intermediate College,Rohi,Varanasi and another Vs. DIOS, Varanasi and another, (1990) 1 UPLBEC-339, which has consistently been followed in subsequent decisions.
I have heard learned counsel for respective parties at length and gone through the record as also the decisions relied upon by the parties as indicated above.
It is an admitted position that the election said to have been held by the petitioner-committee on 28.7.2019 has not been approved by the competent authority till date. Even in the present petition, there is no prayer made for a direction to the DIOS concerned for passing order approving the said election dated 28.7.2019 or attesting the signatures of the Manager. Even otherwise, until and unless the petitioner-committee is recognized, it cannot be said to be a legal and valid committee.
The Division Bench in the case of Shri Nehru Intermediate College (supra) has clearly laid down that where there is a dispute with regard to the management of the institution on account of two rival groups claiming to be validly elected committee of management and where there is no recognised Manager of the institution, there is valid justification for the DIOS for an action under section 5(1) of the Act. Further, in terms of second proviso to section 5 of the Act of 1971, the DIOS is empowered to revoke the order of single operation of accounts at any time in case the defect is removed.
In view of the above, when matter pertaining to election dated 28.7.2019 with regard to the petitioner-committee is pending before the DIOS, Jaunpur, in the considered opinion of this Court, no good grounds exists for quashing the order impugned passed by the DIOS.
However, in the facts and circumstances of the case, this petition is being finally disposed of with a direction to the respondent no. 1-DIOS, Jaunpur to pass appropriate order in accordance with law in the matter of approval of election dated 28.7.2019 of the petitioner-committee, expeditiously within a period of three weeks from the date of presentation of a certified copy of this order and thereafter on the representation made by the petitioner, for revocation of the order as per second proviso to section 5 of the Act of 1971. No order as to costs.
Order Date :- 19.12.2019 SNT/