S. C. Mathur, J. - (1.) WE had by our short order dated 20th December 1989 allowed these writ petitions and quashed the order of the Returning Officer and Patron of the Lucknow University Students Union, Lucknow rejecting the nomination papers of the petitioners for the office of Junior Liberarian of the said Union for the Session 1989-90. WE now proceed to give reasons for the said order.
(2.) THE petitioners who are students of L.L.B. (first year) class in the Lucknow University are aggrieved by rejection of their nomination papers for the office of Junior Librarian in the Lucknow University Union, election of which was scheduled to be held on December, 22, 1989. THE Union is an association of the students of Lucknow University. Elections to various offices in the Union are conducted in, accordance with the provisions of the Union Constitution. Both the petitioners joined the L.L.B. course after obtaining Masters Degree in Commerce from the same University. The only ground for rejecting their, nomination papers is that they are not "post-graduate students" within the meaning of paragraph 8 (Hi) of the Union Constitution and are therefore disqualified from holding the office of the Junior Librarian. Paragraph 8 of the constitution reads as follows :- "8. The following shall be the officers of the Union a (i) (a) The Patron, (b) The President, (c) The Vice-President, (d) The Treasurer, (e) The Secretary, (f) The Senior Librarian, and (g) The Junior Librarian. " (ii) Members (b) (c) (e) and (g) of the preceding clause shall be elected directly by the ordinary members of the Union. (iii) The" candidates for (b) (c) and (e) of clause (i) must have been students of the University for at least one year and those for (g) must be Postgraduate students. Once who has once held any of these four offices shall not be eligible for re-election to the same office." Under paragraph 13 of the constitution Vice Chancellor is the Patron of the Union. Under paragraph 16 and 18 he nominates the Treasurer and Senior Librarian. Holders of those two offices have to be members of teaching staff. No election is held in respect of the offices of Patron, Treasurer and Senior Librarian. For the rest of the offices elections are held. For the elected offices eligibility qualifications are prescribed in clause (iii) For the offices of President, Vice-President and the Secretary the candidate must have been a Student of the University for atleast one year. Thus freshers in the University are excluded. For the office of Junior Librarian the candidate must be "Post Graduate student". The term "Post Graduate student" is the subject matter of interpretation in these two petitions. According to the University the term "Post Graduate student" means a student pursuing a course of study which will lead him to a Master's Degree and excludes a student who is pursuing a course of study which will lead him to a Bachelors' Degree, even though admission to the Bachelor's Degree Course may be available only after obtaining some graduate qualification like Bachelor of Arts.
(3.) THE petitioners on the other hand contends that the term denotes students who are pursuing studies in a course admission whereto is available only after obtaining graduate qualification. According to them since admission to L.L.B. class is available only after obtaining a graduate qualification a student of L.L.B. class is also a Post-Graduate student although the degree awarded to him is Bachelor's Degree in Law. We have given our anxious consideration to the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties and we find considerable difficulty in accepting the plea of the Lucknow University. The term "Post-Graduate" or "Post Graduate student" has not been defined in the Union Constitution. Our attention has not been invited to any other publication of the University like Prospectus, Ordinances, Regulations where the term may have -been defined. In the circumstance we are left to interpret the term according to its ordinary dictionary meaning. In Webster's Third New International Dictionary the term "Post" has been given several meanings. One of the meanings which has relevance to the present context is "posterior in position". In the same Dictionary the term "Posterior" has been given the following meanings "next, following, coming after, after in time : subsequent, after in place." By applying any of these meanings Post-Graduation would mean after Graduation and Post-Graduation course would mean a course of study after Graduation. Thus Post-Graduation course would be a course for which possession of Graduation qualification is a must. It is not disputed by the learned counsel for the University that for admission to the L.L B. course possession of Graduate qualification is obligatory. In view of this position L.L.B. course will have to be treated as a Post-Graduate course and a student of L.L.B. class will have to be treated as a "Post-Graduate student". The position becomes explicit from the meanings of the term "Post-Graduate" given in the same Dictionary. These are "relating to, or engaged in study following graduation......, a student continuing his education after graduation from High School or College".;