Vineet Saran, J. - (1.) The dispute in this case is with regard to filling up the vacancy of Principal of a college, a post that warrants appointment of a person of high merit, integrity and ethical responsibility. A Principal belongs to the noble profession of teaching. Students and citizens look up to the teachers with reverence. The genesis of this case is the genuineness of the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree of the appellant-petitioner, issued by the Baba Sahab Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur (Bihar), (for short 'the University'), who was selected by the U.P. Secondary Education Services Selection Board, (for short 'Selection Board'), for appointment as Principal of Amrit Inter College, Rohana Mills, Muzaffarnagar, (for short 'the college').
(2.) Normally the appointment of Principal is a procedural matter, dealt with and finalised by the Selection Board. But this is not a normal case. It has a chequered history. Twice earlier the parties have gone up to the Supreme Court litigating on the issue involved in this case. Besides this, criminal proceedings have also been initiated against the appellant-petitioner for the same matter. This is practically the fourth inning of litigation between the contesting parties, for filling up the post of Principal of the college. The facts are fairly complicated, which we have endeavoured to simplify and which are briefly narrated below.
(3.) In the year 1996, the Selection Board issued an advertisement for filling up the vacancies on the post of Principals in various institutions, including that of the respondent college, which falls in the Meerut Region. In response to the said advertisement, the appellant-petitioner Ravindra Singh had also applied. On 15.4.1997, the Selection Board recommended the name of the appellant-petitioner for appointment as Principal of the college.;