NANDAKUMARAN Vs. PRINCIPAL GOVT VICTORIA COLLEGE PALGHAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in this case is a student studying in the 3rd year B.Com. Class in the Government Victoria College, Palghat. By this petition he prays for the issuance of a writ of certiorari or other appropriate writ for quashing Ext. P7 order dated 12-8-1964 by which he was suspended from the College for the period from 29-7-1964 to 30-9-1964. The charges against him were:

(2.) The main contentions raised by the petitioner are that the Enquiry Committee failed to observe the principles of natural justice in the conduct of the enquiry, and that the Lecturer in Commerce Mr. Janaranjanadasan and the Principal of the College, were actuated by mala fides against the petitioner. In this context, it is alleged that the petitioner was expelled from the College on a previous occasion by the Principal on the basis of a report of the Lecturer in Commerce Mr. Janaranjanadasan, that the petitioner had filed before this court O. P. 262/1964 to quash that order, that along with that petition he had filed an application to suspend the order of expulsion, and that the writ petition was admitted by this court and an order staying the operation of the order of expulsion was passed. It is further alleged that the filing of the writ petition and the application for stay of the operation of the order of expulsion were taken as defiance of their authority by Mr. Janaranjanadasan and the Principal and that they were waiting for an opportunity somehow to sack the petitioner from the College for some reason or other.

(3.) Mr. Janaranjanadasan has filed an affidavit specifically contraverting the allegations against him in the affidavit in support of the writ petition. Mr. Janaranjanadasan is not a party to this proceeding. In his affidavit, he has stated that he has no reason at all for being prejudiced against the petitioner on account of his having challenged in this court the prior order passed by the Principal and that the incidents which are stated to have taken place on 27-7-1964 were true. The Principal of the College has filed an affidavit and in the affidavit he has stated that he was satisfied from the report of the Enquiry Committee and the proceedings of the Council that the petitioner was guilty of the charges and that he passed Ext. P. 7 order bona fide in the full belief that the petitioner was guilty of the charges levelled against him. He further stated that for the purpose of maintaining discipline in the College it was necessary that the petitioner should be punished for his misconduct.