MOUNT CARMEL COLLEGE Vs. SUDHA RAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Questions of fact and law arising for determination in these petitions are common and therefore they are disposed of by the following order.

(2.) These three petitions under Art. 226 of the Constitution are preferred by the Mount Carmel College and the Mount Carmel Education Society of Bangalore. The first petitioner College is run by the 2nd petitioner Society, a society registered under the Kar. Societies Registration Act, 1960. They will be referred to as the College and the society as the case may be in the course of this order for convenience.

(3.) The College is an educational institution, established and administered by the Carmalite Sisters of St. Teresa. The Society is found by the Sisters of the afore- mentiored Order. The signatories to the Memorandum of Association are the Mother General of the Order, the Mother superior at Bangalore and some of the other sisters of the Order. The primary object of the Society is to promote the diffusion for education for women, especially University Education in Arfs and Science, and pursuant thereto, to take over, administer, manage and conduct or close down and reopen the existing Colleges within the State of Karnataka conducted by the Congregations of St. Teresa. It is asserted that the Society is that of a religious minority and the members themselves belong to the Christian community. It is also asserted that the College is meant primarily for Catholics and other Christian students though others of all castes and creeds are also admitted.