B.C.Ray, J. - (1.) The petitioner No. 1, Sree Jain Swetamber Terapanthi Vidyalaya, a society registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1860, and the petitioner No. 2, Assistant Secretary of the said society have made this Writ application challenging the validity of the orders passed by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education dated 19th Mar. 1977 and 25th July, 1077 respectively holding that the Election of members of the Managing Committee from the Guardians' Constituency was not valid and directing the appointment of an Ad hoc Committee or an Administrator to run the administration of this School as well as to complete re-constitution of the Managing Committee in accordance with the Rules and also by the later order rejecting the prayer for Special Constitution as regards the reconstitution of the Managing Committee of this school.
(2.) The salient facts of the case as appeared from the Writ application is that the petitioner No. 1 is a society registeded under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1860 and the purpose of the society as appears from its memorandum and Articles of Association is to take over, maintain, manage, regulate, conduct, guide, help, locate, remove, improve and develop the present existing educational institution known as Sree Jain Swetamber Terapanthi Vidyalaya; to impart, free of charge or otherwise secular, moral, physical, commercial and religious education according to the tenets of Jain Swetamber Tarapanthi Community in particular and to the boys and girls of other community in general. It was also provided therein that all properties of the Vidyalaya both moveable and immoveable including its funds shall be held by the Board of Trustee in the name of the Vidyalaya and they shall hold the said properties and funds, sub ject to the Rules and Regulations of the Vidyalaya and Trustees of any settlement endowment or donation shall hold the same subject to the terms thereof. The Executive Committee was vested with powers and duties of appointment of teachers, professors and other officers and employees of the said institution on such terms and conditions as they may think fit and proper and the Executive Committee is also empowered to suspend or dismiss or grant leave to any of the teachers, professors, officers or other employees of the Vidyalaya. It has been sitated that the petitioner No. 1 i. e., the society has been all along managing and running three schools, viz., (1) Sree Jain Swetamber Terapanthi Vidyalaya (Boys' High School), (2) Sree Jain Swetember Terapanthi Vidyalaya (Girls' High School) and (3)' Sree Jain Swetamber Terapanthi Vidaya-laya (Primary Section). The petitioner No. 1 it has been stated, is the financing, founder and the Managing Body having full control and power over the funds, properties and other assets of all the three Schools. It has also been stated that this society was formed in the year of 1916 for preservation of its culture, heritage, religion, philosophy, ethics, etc., and for imparting moral, physical, commercial and religious education according to the tenets of Jain Swetamber Terapanthi Religion to the children belonging to the said community and also to other boys reading in the said School. The term of the Managing Committee expired sometime on 31st Dec. 1974. The Secretary, Managing Committee of the said institution convened a meeting of the Managing Committee for preparation of the Election Programme for reconstitution of the Managing Committee. The provisional voters' list and inclusion and substitution applications of guardians etc. were finalised according to the said programme at a meeting of the Managing Committee held on 21st Sept. 1974. The Election Officer was also appointed in the meeting of the Managing Committee, and the Election Officer also accepted his appointment and agreed to hold the Election, The election from the teachers' category was completed on 4th Oct. 1974 and election from the categories of Founder, Doner, Medical practitioner and the Persons interested in education was also completed by the Election Officer on 9th Oct. 1974. The election of the Guardians' Category was scheduled to be held on 13th Oct. 1974, but owing t0 the filing of a suit being Title Suit No. 1484 of 1974 and an interim order made therein, the said election could not be held on the date fixed. The interim order, was, however, vacated on 19-3-1975 and thereafter election from the Guardians' category was held on 15-4-1975, The same was duly intimated to the respondent No. 3, President, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and it was also notified on the Notice Board of said institution. No objection was raised to the holding of such election from any quarter. After completion of election the same was duly communicated to the Director of Public Instruction and District Inspector of Schools. But unfortunately no departmental nominee was placed nor any communication was received from the District Inspector of Schools (S. E.) or from the Director of Public Instruction in this matter. In the meantime an Ad hoc Committee was appointed by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education for running the administration of this institution on 9th Feb. 1976. Against that an application was moved before this Court and after hearing the parties the Court directed to appoint a Supervisor to supervise the election of the Managing Committee to be held within a period of six months. Against that an appeal being F. M. A. No, 491 of 1976 was preferred. The appeal was disposed of with this direction that the appellants will hand over the copies of the documents relating to the holding of election to the learned Advocate appearing for the Board and the President of the Board will consider the papers and also papers which he received from the office of Director of Public Instruction as well as from the District Inspector of Schools and will pass appropriate orders. The president after considering those papers as well as the papers which were supplied by the petitioners held that election held on 15-4-1975 was not valid, It was also held that there should be a fresh election of Guardians' representative according to the Rules and procedure laid down by the Board. The term of the Managing Committee appointed on 7th Feb. 1976 was also over, and in order to avoid an administrative vacuum the Board would take an appropriate step to appoint an Administrator or an Ad hoc Committee with direction to complete reconstitution of Managing Committee according to the Rules. This order was made by the Board on 19th Mar. 1977 and this has been annexed as Annexure 'A' to the petition. Against this order the petitioner moved an application in the Writ jurisdiction and obtained Civil Rule No. 2361 (w) of 1977 and an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents from appointing an Administrator or an Ad hoc Committee in this institution and also from interfering with the functions of the petitioners in respect of administration and management of this institution for a week. This interim order, however, was converted into an order of maintaining status quo in respect of management and administration of the School and the respondents were directed to consider the application of the petitioners for Special Constitution within a period of two months from the date. On 25th July, 1977 the Secretary of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education intimated the petitioners that the application for Special Constitution was considered by the Board and the same was rejected in respect of this institution. This has been annexed as Annexure 'C' to the petition. The above two orders have been challenged in this Writ application on the , ground inter alia that this institution is run by Jain Swetamber Terapanthi Vidyalaya which is a religious and linguistic minority and as such they are entitled to maintain and manage their institution without any interference from the Board in respect of the constitution of the Managing Committee of the School. In other words, it has been submitted that this institution is entitled to get the benefit of Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution of India, which provide that a religious community being minority has right to establish and administer educational institutions according to their own choice. It has also been submitted that no reasonable opportunity of hearing was given before rejecting their application for Special Constitution, and therefore, it is violative of the principles of natural justice. The instant Rule was issued and an interim order of maintaining status quo for a period of fourteen days were made from 22nd Sept. 1977. The said interim order was subsequently vacated.
(3.) An affidavit-in-opposition has been filed on behalf of Respondents Nos. 2, 3 and 4 sworn by Sri Anil Chandra Bis-was, Secretary, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. It has been stated that the Board took the decision at its meeting dated July 21, 1977 after considering the views of the Director of Secondary Education contained in their memo dated June 14, 1977, to the following effect:-- (a) Sri Jain Swetamber Terapanthi Vidyalaya is said to have been started in 1916. (b) That an Association named "Sri Jain Swetamber Terapanthi Vidyalaya" is said to have been formed and registered in 1937. (c) The Association appears to have been formed and registered nearly two decades after the School was started. (d) The jurisdiction and control of the said Association over the High School is subject to further probe. (e) The name of the Association as "Sri Jain Swetamber Terapanthi Vidyalaya" is also intriguing. (f) The affairs of the High School in recent times had been in bad shape in consideration of which the Board appointed an Ad hoc Committee to manage the institution.;