- (1.) Heard Sri Anil Tiwari, learned counsel for the petitioners who has filed a supplementary affidavit and Sri Ashok Khare, learned Senior Counsel for the caveator alongwith Sri Sudip Dwivedi. The learned Standing Counsel is representing the respondents 1 to 4.
(2.) This is a dispute relating to the holding of elections of a Committee of Management coupled with the status of the Scheme of Administration according to which the elections are to be held. The petitioners contend that the Scheme of Administration of the Institution was approved on 27th December, 1971 where the tenure of the Committee was three years and the elected office bearers are to continue till fresh office bearers are elected. This Scheme continued till recently when fresh elections are stated to have been held on 27th December, 2008, in which the petitioner was elected as the Manager and his signatures were accordingly attested by the District Inspector of Schools on 23rd January, 2009. This Committee appears to have tabled a resolution for bringing about an amendment in the Scheme of Administration by extending its tenure from three years to five years. The resolution appears to have been passed on 25th December, 2010 by the Committee and was ratified on 3rd October, 2011. The documents were dispatched to the Joint Director of Education for approval and the same awaited approval. The tenure of the Committee which was elected on 27th December, 2008 was to come to an end on 26th December, 2011. The Committee however did not choose to hold elections according to the old scheme as their stand was that the Committee had already resolved to extend the tenure of the Committee under the resolution mentioned above.
(3.) The Joint Director of Education granted approval to a five year tenure of the Committee through the amendment as proposed vide order dated 21st December, 2011. The said document has been brought on record as Annexure 8 to the writ petition. It is at this stage that the dispute appears to have commenced between the petitioner and the caveator. The District Inspector of Schools sent letters to the petitioner's committee on 21.12.2011 and again on 26.12.2011 calling upon it to hold elections as per the old scheme, inasmuch as, the tenure of three years had admittedly expired. The petitioners through their reply dated 6.1.2012 and 9.1.2012 resisted the same on the ground of the amendment having been approved by the Joint Director of Education referred to hereinabove. The District Inspector of Schools does not appear to have accepted the said position and he imposed an order of single operation on 13th January, 2012 which came to be challenged by the petitioner-Committee in writ petitioner no. 4392 of 2012.;