Dilip Gupta, J. - (1.) The Committee of Management of S.D. Girls Inter College, Saharanpur and Vikki Batra claiming himself to be its Manager have filed this petition for setting aside the order dated 22nd March, 2010 passed by the Regional Level Committee, Saharanpur Region, Saharanpur by which approval has been granted to the election of the Committee of Management held on 1st August, 2008 in which Sarvershwar Nath Prabhakar was elected as the Manager.
(2.) It is stated in the petition that S.D. Girls Inter College, Saharanpur (hereinafter referred to as the 'Institution') is a recognised and aided Intermediate Institution which is governed by the U.P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921. The Institution has its own Scheme of Administration which provides that the term of the Committee of Management shall be three years and three months. The election of the Committee of Management was held on 31st July, 2005 from a list of 270 members of the General Body in which Mahendra Kumar was elected as the Manager. The Regional Level Committee granted approval to the said election on 19th December, 2006 and the District Inspector of Schools also attested the signatures of the Manager. As the term of the Committee of Management was coming to an end, fresh elections were held on 10th August, 2008 in which petitioner No. 2-Vikki Batra was elected as the Manager. This election was also held on the basis of a list of 270 members of the General Body. However, a rival election was also set up in which Sarveshwar Nath Prabhakar was elected as the Manager on 1st August, 2008. This election was conducted from the list of 58 members of the General Body. As the two rival Committee of Managements claimed to have held the elections, the District Inspector of Schools referred the matter to the Regional Level Committee. The Regional Level Committee took a decision on 17th July, 2009 that none of the two elections can be approved and further directed that fresh election should be held on the basis of the list of 58 members of the General Body.
(3.) This order dated 17th July, 2009 of the Regional Level Committee was challenged in Writ Petition No. 38309 of 2009 which was allowed by the judgment and order dated 29th July, 2009 with the following observations : "The Scheme of Administration does not require any prior permission from the District Inspector of Schools for holding the elections. All that Clause 9(4) of the Scheme of Administration requires is that information of the election has to be sent to the District Inspector of Schools, District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police by registered post for sending an observer. The impugned order mentions that such information was not sent. It is the contention of the learned Senior Counsel for the petitioners that such information had been sent and in support of this contention he has placed reliance upon the registered letter dated 15th June, 2008 sent by the ex-Manager to the District Inspector of Schools. Reliance has also been placed on Annexure 6 to the writ petition which contains the postal receipts, which according to the learned Senior Counsel for the petitioners is for the letters sent to the District Inspector of Schools, District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police. It is also his submission that these documents were included in the list of 194 documents submitted by the petitioners before the Regional Level Committee. This factual position is seriously disputed by Sri GK. Singh, learned counsel for the rival Committee of Management and it is submitted that such documents were never placed before the Regional Level Committee by the petitioner-Committee of Management. The Court finds that there is no discussion about this issue in the impugned order. The order dated 26th November, 2008 was passed by the District Inspector of Schools for single operation of the accounts after the petitioner Committee of Management had held the election. This order could not have been taken into consideration for holding that the election could have been held by the District Inspector of Schools and not by the ex-Manager or any other person. The Regional Level Committee has also noticed that the Committee of Management had not asked for recognition of the election but had only pointed out the infirmity in the rival elections. This is not true as papers had been submitted by the petitioner-Committee of Management before the District Inspector of Schools for granting recognition. The last reason given by the Regional Level Committee cannot also be accepted. If the Regional Level Committee formed an opinion that the membership of the body was disputed then it should have decided it but the elections could not have been discarded by simply saying that there was a dispute. Thus, for all the reasons stated above, the order dated 17th July, 2009 passed by the Regional Level Committee cannot be sustained and is, accordingly, set aside. The Regional Level Committee shall pass a fresh order in accordance with law and in the light of the observations made above and after granting opportunity to the parties expeditiously, preferably within a period of six weeks from the date a certified copy of this order is filed by either of parties before it. The writ petition is, accordingly, allowed to the extent indicated above." ;