Protik Prakash Banerjee, J. - (1.) A new disease has infected the body politic. The dance of democracy, once a stately waltz, has slowly but surely, changed to a free style epilepsy, where anything goes. One such allegation has come, most incongruously, to be leveled at what ought to have been the most insulated of places, the most orthodox of institutions of learning, the "Madrasah". This forms the leitmotif of the writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India which has come to be numbered as WP No.31136 (W) of 2017.
(2.) The writ petitioners are the guardians of their respective children at the Ramnagar High Madrasah (HS). They claim to have attempted to file their nomination papers for election to the Managing Committee of the said Madrasah, in the category of guardians' representatives. They allege, among other things, that after they filed their nomination papers which too was plagued by tribulations of near-Biblical proportions, but more of that later some miscreants forcibly took these away from the Head-master and the head-master refused to acknowledge his receipt of the nomination papers. Taking advantage of this forced walk-over, the private respondents, who filed their nominations and were in fact the only candidates for the available posts under the category of guardians' representatives, were declared elected. The writ petitioners challenged this process which they claim make a mockery of elections. This, in short, is the real issue in controversy. Their case came to this court once, and certain orders were passed therein, pursuant whereto a hearing was given by the West Bengal Board of Madrasah Education, a statutory body corporate which is the respondent no. 3. An order dated December 13, 2017 was passed by the respondent no. 4 as the President of the respondent no. 3, roundly rejecting their representation. This is the order impugned before me today.
(3.) I wish I could have been rid of the unpleasant facts with the short recital in paragraph 2 above, but alas! That is not to be. Matters which are apparent from the record and of which I must take note must be narrated in tedious detail, where required. So, let us start from the very beginning, a very good place, I have been assured, from which to start.;