GIRIDHARI GOCHHAYAT Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Nomination of Banshidhar Biswal (opp. party No. 3) as President of Governing Body of Bhagabati Mahavidyalaya, Konark is under challenge in this writ application. Said nomination was made by the State Government in the Higher Education Department which was approved by the Director of Higher Education, Orissa in purported exercise of power under Rule 25(1)(i) of the Orissa (Establishment, Recognition and Management of Private Colleges) Rules, 1991. The institution is an aided educational institution within the meaning of Section 3(b) of the Orissa Education Act, 1969 (in short, the 'Act').

(2.) MAIN plank of challenge is that opposite party No. 3 is not an 'eminent educationist' which is the sine qua non for such nomination. Stand of the petitioners is that opposite party No. 3 is not even a Graduate and was a Clerk in the Secretariat and by no stretch of imagination can be treated as an eminent educationist. Petitioner No. 1 was nominated as a Member of the Governing Body of the college in June, 1992, and petitioner No. 2 is a person interested in the field of education and has enough contribution for establishment and management of the college in question.

(3.) LEARNED counsel for State and opposite party No. 3 have taken the stand that though opposite party No. 3 is not a graduate as claimed, yet that is not a ground to ignore his eminence as an educationalist.