SHANTINIKETAN EDUCATION TRUST Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) As common question of law and facts arise in both these Letters Patent Appeals, there are being disposed of by this common judgment and order.

(2.) Both these Letters Patent Appeals under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent have been preferred by the respective appellants herein-original petitioners of Special Civil Application No. 2850 of 2004 and Special Civil Application No.15312 of 2003 challenging the impugned common judgment and order passed by the learned Single Judge dated 29.7.2004 passed in aforesaid Special Civil Applications, by which the learned Single Judge has partly allowed the Special Civil Applications and declared that a person or group of persons belonging genuinely to the group of Hindi linguistic can claim status as linguistic minority in Gujarat State, however it will be for the concerned authority of the State Government to examine the facts of each institution keeping in view the observations made in the said judgment and to ascertain as to whether such persons or group of persons running the petitioner institutions are genuinely belonging to "Hindi" linguistic group and it will also be for the Officer concerned to examine the constitution and functioning of each petitioner institution and to find out as to whether the appellant- original petitioner institutions are formed with an object to promote and preserve "Hindi" language, script and culture or not and if as outcome of the inquiry it is found that the concerned petitioner institutions either themselves or their Trustees belong to genuinely "Hindi" linguistic group and the institution is formed with an object to promote and preserve "Hindi" as its language, culture and script, consequently the status would be conferred upon such petitioners for such purpose as minority institutions.

(3.) The facts leading to the present Letters Patent Appeals in nutshell are as under: