RAJPATI Vs. REGIONAL COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of the judgment dated 20.03.2007 delivered in Writ Petition No.38485 of 2005, whereby the learned Single Judge has allowed the writ petition and has quashed the order dated 09.02.2005 rendered by the Joint Director of Education recognising the Committee of Management of which the appellant Rajpati was elected as the Manager.

(2.) The dispute is in respect of the Committee of Management of Dr. Lohia Inter College which is an institution duly recognised and aided under the provisions of the U.P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921 (hereinafter called the ''Act') and Regulations framed thereunder. Under the provisions of Section 16-A of the Act, every institution has to have a scheme of administration which is to conform to the norms prescribed under the statutory provisions coupled with the guidelines indicated in Schedule III of the Schedule appended to the said Act. The Institution presently in question is undisputedly governed by a duly approved scheme of administration framed under the aforesaid provisions and copy whereof is Annexure-1 to the stay application. The said scheme of administration as amended and applicable to the institution clearly prescribes the tenure of an elected Committee of Management as three years and one month with a further stipulation that upon the expiry of the aforesaid period, in the event a new Committee does not take over charge, the earlier Committee would become defunct and its tenure would come to an end. As a natural consequence thereof, the aforesaid provision also clearly provides that an Authorised Controller will be entitled to take over charge to be appointed by the Regional Joint Director of Education for managing the affairs of the institution and holding fresh elections.

(3.) In the instant case, the finding recorded by the learned Single Judge is that the undisputed elections were held on 24.11.1997. Subsequent thereto, no fresh elections were held within a period of three years and one month of the aforesaid elections. The appellant and a rival claimant set up a claim of elections that were alleged to have been held on the basis of an election programme published on 26.09.2004. The elections are stated to have been held on 01.10.2004 in which Keola Prasad and Rajbali, the rival claimant had been elected and on the other hand the appellant Rajpati also staked his claim of having been elected on the same day as Manager with Shri Satya Narain as President. Thus, there was a rival claim of elections having been set up which dispute was intimated by the District Inspector of Schools to the Regional Director of Education. After rival contentions were placed before the Regional Level Committee headed by the Regional Joint Director of Education, the same was decided by the order impugned in the writ petition whereby the elections of the appellant were acknowledged. The appellant who was the respondent in the writ petition, made a clear statement in paragraph 28 of the counter affidavit which was filed in response to the writ petition admitting that the elections were held in the year 1997. It was also urged that the said Committee continued to function smoothly without interruption and, therefore, the said Committee cannot be said to have become functus officio after three years and one month and no such dispute was ever raised even in respect of the advertisement published by the said Committee for holding fresh elections. It was also alleged that in the absence of any such objections having been raised in respect of the holding of elections, it cannot be said that the erstwhile Committee had no authority to hold elections. In view of this, it is alleged that the order passed by the Regional Level Committee recognising the claim of the appellant did not deserve any interference.