Court No. - 19
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 34918 of 2018 Petitioner :- Chaudhary Mahendra Singh And 5 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Bheem Singh,Ashok Khare Senior Advocate Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Sunil Kumar Dwivedi,Vijay Kumar Singh
Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Gupta,J.
Heard counsel for the petitioners, learned standing counsel for respondent Nos. 1 to 3 and Sri G.K. Singh, learned senior counsel assisted by Sri S.K. Dwivedi for respondent No. 4. With their consent, the writ petition is being decided finally, without inviting a formal counter affidavit.
The petitioners have challenged an order dated 10.5.2018 passed by District Inspector of Schools, Bulandshahr, recognising the election dated 21.1.2018 in which respondent No. 4 was elected as Committee of Management of D.R. Inter College, Gothani, Bulandshahr, a recognised Institution under the U.P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921.
It is noteworthy that earlier by an order dated 19.3.2018, the same election was not recognised by District Inspector of Schools, Bulandshahr. The said order was subjected to challenge before this Court in Writ C No. 12375 of 2018. The writ petition was allowed by this Court and the matter was remitted back to District Inspector of Schools for passing a fresh order after hearing both the parties.
Counsel for the petitioners submitted that in pursuance of the said direction, the matter was heard by Manoj Kumar Arya, the then District Inspector of Schools, Bulandshahr. However, before he could take decision in the matter, he was placed under suspension and in his place, Pooran Singh was authorised to work as District Inspector of Schools. He proceeded to pass the impugned order without providing hearing to the parties. The submission is that since hearing took place before Manoj Kumar Arya, the then District Inspector of Schools, while the order has been passed by Pooran Singh, the present incumbent, without hearing the parties and therefore, it is in breach of principles of natural justice. A specific assertion has been made in this regard in paragraph 28 and 37 of the writ petition.
Sri G.K. Singh, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of respondent No. 4 does not dispute the same. He very fairly states that the matter has to go back, so that opportunity of hearing is given to the parties before decision is taken.
Accordingly, the impugned order dated 10.5.2018 is quashed. The matter is remitted back to respondent No. 2 for passing a fresh order after affording opportunity of hearing to the parties. The decision be taken expeditiously, preferably within a period of eight weeks from the date of production of certified copy of this order.
The writ petition is allowed to the extent indicated above.
(Manoj Kumar Gupta, J.) Order Date :- 30.10.2018 AM/-