STATE OF UTTARAKHAND Vs. MANAVTA HIGHER PRIMARY SCHOOL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Special Appeal is directed against the judgment dtd. 6/8/2018, passed by the learned Single Judge in Writ Petition (M/S) No. 1820 of 2017. The learned Single Judge has allowed the said writ petition preferred by the respondent Manavta Higher Primary School, Gandhi Nagar, Bindukhatta, District Nainital, and directed the appellant to treat the said school for grant-in-aid since 4/2/2014, when the said school was brought under grant-in-aid.

(2.) The admitted position is that the State Government issued an order on 4/2/2014, in respect of several schools, including the respondent school, thereby bringing the said school under grant-in-aid. The order dtd. 4/2/2014 itself records that the respondent school was a recognized school. Despite being brought under the grant-in-aid, actually, the grant-in-aid was not released to the respondent school. On 1/2/2016, the Government issued another order, whereby granting token grant to several institutions, including the respondent school for the year 2015-16. This was on the premise that there were certain deficiencies in respect of the institution to which token grant was issued. The deficiency pointed out qua the respondent school was that it was situated on forest land. We may observe that there were other schools as well, situated in the same village, which were also granted token grant on the same premise that they were situated on forest land. One such institution is Janta Purva Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Chitrakut, Tiwari Nagar, Bindukhatta, Nainital. Once again, a token grant was granted to the respondent school on 23/12/2016, for the year 2016-17.

(3.) Aforesaid being the position, the respondent preferred the writ petition in question to seek a direction to the authorities to include the respondent school's name in the list of aided schools. The writ-petitioner sought parity with other similarly situated schools. The petitioner pointed out in the writ petition that the Janta Purva Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Chitrakut, Tiwari Nagar, Bindukhatta, Nainital had, in fact, been granted full aid vide communication dtd. 4/1/2017, even though the said school was also situated on forest land.