UNNIMOYIN KUTTY Vs. ASST EDUCATIONAL OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner, Sri. N. P. Unnimoyin Kutty, is the manager of P. M. S. A. P. T. M. A M.L.P.School , Chevittanikunnu. By Ext. P7 order dated 20-11-1980 the petitioner was told by the 1st respondent, the Assistant Educational Officer, Kondotty that Ext. P5 order dated 19-5-1980 whereunder it was declared that the school in question was a minority institution as defined in S. 2 clause (5) of the Kerala Education Act entitled to the benefits of Art. 30 (1) of the Constitution of India was null and void as according to him it was not supported by any provisions in the Kerala education Rules as stated by the District Educational Officer in her letter No. 8290/80 dated 30-10-1980.

(2.) SRI. P. K. Shamsuddin, the counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is a Muslim. He started the school utilising his own funds. He had sought permission for starting a Mappila School . The school is founded in memory of a spiritual leader Pookoya Thangal. The counter affidavit filed by the State shows that out of the 117 pupils in the particular year 105 were Muslims. The school was following the Muslim calendar, observing Fridays as holidays and treating Ramzan period as vacation. According to him the school was started for the benefit of the Muslim minority community. He would therefore submit that R. 44 and 45 of Chapter XIV-A of the KER. would not be a bar against the said Mohammed being appointed as Headmaster or teacher-in-charge of the school though the 4th respondent bad service for a larger period in the school in question.

(3.) IN deciding whether an institution is a minority institution or not, all the attending circumstances concerning its establishment and also of its administration have to be considered. Merely for the reason that the institution was established by an individual of the community, not by a community as a whole as a representative body, it would not necessarily mean that it is not a minority institution. The real test is whether the institution is established and administered for the benefit of the minority irrespective of the fact that it is started by an individual of the community or by an organisation representing the community or the school comes under a corporate management or individual management. The decision of the supreme Court in State of Kerala v. Mother Provincial (1970 KLT. 630) and this court in State of Kerala v. Manager C. M. of Schools (1970 KLT. 106) would support this view.