(1.) All these four writ petitions are inter connected and the subject-matter is one and the same in all these writ petitions. Hence they are being disposed of by a common judgment.
(2.) Here are a set of persons claiming to be the respectable persons in the society who could become members of the General Body of the Hyderabad Public School Society from time to time as per the revised bye-laws of the society as approved by the Government in G.O. Ms. No.2713, dated 20-10-1965 wherein the General Body of the society was constituted apart from the Board of Governors to fulfil the requirements of Indian Public Schools Conference that the school seeking for affiliation from the Conference should have a scheme of management, but have no respect for law and they could successfully frustrate the constitutional mandate as envisaged under Article 15(4) of the Constitution of India intended to bring the socially and educationally backward classes of citizens to the main stream of the society by affirmative action like reservations in educational institutions etc. for long 20 years, inspite of specific orders of the Government in G.O. Ms. No.697, dated 26-7-79, while implementing rule of reservation in favour of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as directed in the the said G.O. Apart from these reservations were also made in favour of the children of the staff, old students, brothers of old students and children of the staff working in the local bodies under whom the school authorities are working. I have no manner of doubt that these persons having secured membership of the society and because of their proximity to the political bigwigs, the governmental representatives meekly surrendered to them and most of them did not evince any interest in the administration of the affairs of the school and it has now reached a stage that the Governmental representatives are under the impression that they are on the Board of Governors at the mercy of these individuals and they have not only became willing partners in committing the illegalities by these individuals but also went to the extent of swearing to false affidavits supporting the illegal activities of these individuals, as and when some of the aggrieved persons approached the Courts, quite contrary to the documentary evidence, depending upon the social background of the learned Judge before whom the case is posted and succeeded in not implementing the rule of reservation in favour of the backward class students for over two decades. But when their illegal activities came to the force in the year 1988 they have not only tried to set up title to the school properties but also started claiming that the school belongs to the society and the Government has nothing to do with the school and tried to amend the bye-laws of the Society with a view to takeover the administration of the schools which was till then vested in the Board of Governors, majority of whom arc governmental representatives. Having come to know of the drastic changes brought in the bye-laws of the Society by these individuals, the Secretary to Government, Education Department, in his letter dated 3-2-1988 addressed to the Inspector General of Registration and Stamps, requested him not to revise or incorporate any changes in the bye-laws suggested by the General Body without the knowledge and approval of the Government as public interest is involved. Questioning the said letter the Society filed Writ Petition No.5528/1988 and obtained interim stay of that letter. In these circumstances the then Government headed by Sri N.T. Rama Rao passed legislation in Bill No.34 of 1989 to divest these respectable persons from the membership of the Society after obtaining the permission of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, in File No.19/2/89/ Schools/1, dated 1-5-1989 which is as hereunder: "The undersigned is directed to refer to Ministry of Home Affairs-O. M.No. 16-2-89-Judl. dated 13/01/1989 regarding the Hyderabad Public School (Taking over of Management) Bill, 1988. 2. Ministry of Human Resources Development (Department of Education have no objection to accord approval to the introduction of the proposed Bill in the State Legislature of Andhra Pradesh and the above concurrence is based on the understanding that the Managing Body for the School will be set up within 3 months of the legislation coming into effect."
(3.) But before the Bill received the assent of the Governor there is a change in the Government and the then Chief Minister Dr. M. Chenna Reddy withdrew the Bill on the assurance given by the society to restore status quo ante. In other words, restoration of the management of the affairs of the Society to the Board of Governors and whose strength will be 16 and headed by the Secretary-In-charge, School Education who are governmental representatives was assured. Before the above decision was taken, it is worthwhile to note the reply of Dr. M. Chenna Reddy, the then Chief Minister on the floor of the Assembly on 30-3-1990. The Honourable Chief Minister tried to give a clean chit to these individuals by throwing the blame on the Principal. He further stated that