SRI BIPIN BIHARI SINHA Vs. THE PRESIDENT, BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has obtained this rule calling upon the respondents to show cause as to why the order of the President of the Board of Secondary Education (respondent no. 1) dated 17th December, 1970 communicated to him under the letter of the Secretary of the Board (respondent no. 2) on 21st December: -1970, a copy of which is Annexure '1' to the writ application, be not called up and quashed by the issue of an appropriate writ under Article 226 of the Constitution. The relevant facts are as follows: There is a Government aided high school at Dehri -on -Sone, known as 'Ramarani Jain Balika Uchch Vidyalaya'. This school had a 5 -member Ad -hoc Committee until the 22nd May, 1969 with Shri V. Poddar (respondent no. 4) as its President. Under a general notification bearing serial no 1158 issued by the President of the Board of Secondary Education the 5 -member Ad -hoc Committee stood dissolved and respondent no. 4 became the sole member of the Ad -hoc Committee of the School with effect from the 23rd May, 1969. Thereafter steps were taken for the constitution of a regular managing committee as contemplated by the Bihar High Schools (Constitution, Powers and Functions of Managing Committees) Rules, 1964 - -hereinafter to be called the Rules - -framed under the rule making power of the State Government contained in Sec. 8 of the Bihar High Schools (Control and Regulation of Administration) Act, 1960 (Bihar Act 13 of 1960) - -hereinafter to be referred to as the Act.

(2.) According to the allegations contained in the writ application, the regular Managing Committee was duly constituted on the 13th June, 1970 with the petitioner as its Secretary and one Dr. Vishwanath Ram as the President. Another member of the regular Managing Committee was Shri J.K. Jain (respondent no. 3) who was elected as the hereditary member thereof. The further case of the petitioner is set out in Paragraphs 7 and 8 of the writ application, the substance of which is that since after the constitution of the regular Managing Committee on the 13th June, 1970 the said Managing Committee had begun to function smoothly and continued to function as aforesaid until the 21st December, 1970 when the petitioner received a letter from the Secretary of the Board of Secondary Education, a copy of which, as already stated, is Annexure '1' to the writ application. The order of the President of the Board of Secondary Education thus communicated to the petitioner was to the effect that the functioning of the Managing Committee, which had been constituted on the 13th June, 1970, would remain suspended and the previous 1 -member Ad -hoc Committee represented by respondent no. 4 would act as the Managing Committee of the school. In Paragraph 8 of the writ application, it has been stated that the Managing Committee, of which the petitioner is the Secretary, was never heard in the matter and the order of suspension was in gross violation of the principle of natural justice. Accordingly the petitioner filed the present writ application in this Court on the 22nd December, 1970.

(3.) Cause has been shown on behalf of respondents 1 and 2 by the learned Government Pleader Mr. Katriar, and on behalf of respondents 3 and 4 by Mr. J.C. Sinha. A counter affidavit has also been filed on behalf of respondents 3 and 4 setting out the circumstances under which the impugned order contained in Annexure '1' came to be passed.