SOPHY KELLY Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE two petitions have been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution. They relate to a matter of vital importance connected with the maintenance of educational standards in secondary schools and the preservation of their internal autonomy. The question raised by the petitioners is whether the Maharashtra State of Board of Secondary Education can lawfully compel heads of secondary schools to forward the applications of candidates wishing to appear for the Secondary School Certificate Examination (S. S. C. Examination) irrespective of whether in the opinion of their teachers the candidates have made adequate academic progress during the final year.

(2.) THE petitioner in Special Civil application No. 131 of 1966 is the Principal and Proprietress of Hill Grange, High School Bombay. The second petition (Special Civil Application No. 132 of 1966) is a representative petition filed by the trustees of the Bharda New High School, Bombay, on behalf of the about 230 members of the Bombay Association of Heads of Secondary Schools, and also on behalf of other heads of Schools, in "the Poona Division". The Poona Division consists of Greater Bombay and the districts in the Maharashtra State which were formerly a part of the old Bombay State. In both the petitions the first respondents are the State of Maharashtra, the second respondents the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary Education, and the third respondents the Poona Division Board of Secondary Education.

(3.) THE Maharashtra Secondary Education Boards Act, 1965 was brought into force on 1st January 1966. In former times an examination called the Matriculation examination used to be held by the Bombay university in the State of Bombay. There after a corresponding examination called the School Leaving Certificate Examination was held for some time by the Bombay Government. In 1948 the Bombay Legislature passed the Bombay Secondary School Certificate Examination Act, 1948, and the Board formed under that Act began to hold an examination called the Secondary School Certificate Examination (S. S. C. Examination ). The Board under the said Act continued to hold the examination after the formation of the Maharashtra State in those areas which came to Maharashtra from the old Bombay State. The Board had made regulations under the Act of 1948, and out of those areas which came to Maharashtra from the old Bombay State. The Board had made regulations under the Act of 1948, and out of these regulation 27 related to the eligibility of candidates for the said examination. One of the conditions prescribed by that regulation was that the candidate should have a certificate from the head of the school that "his progress, conduct and attendance at the school have been satisfactory". The certificates as to progress used to be given by the heads of schools on the basis of the academic performance of the pupils. In some schools the academic performance of the pupils was judged on the basis of the results of the preliminary examination which was held in the schools prior to the S. S. C. Examination. In some schools the progress certificates used to be given on the basis of the pupils' performance in the preliminary as well as the earlier examinations held during the final year in the school. In the Hill Grange High School it was the established practice to take a monthly test of the pupils in the final year (Standard XI), a terminal examination at the end of the first term, and a preliminary examination in the month of December every year. For the purpose of issuing progress certificates the academic performance of the pupils was judged by the Principal and the Head Master on the reports of all the teachers concerned submitted and discussed at a special staff meeting. There were some schools in the Poona Division, however, which used to send up all the pupils in the XI standard to the S. S. C. Examination by giving them progress certificates as a matter of course. It was averred by the petitioners, and was admitted by the learned Advocate General on behalf of the respondents, that the system of holding a preliminary examination and of detaining students who were not fit to pass it had prevailed for a period of nearly 100 years in the Bombay State and in the areas of the Bombay State which are now included in Maharashtra.