SHASHI BHUSHAN PRASAD SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These 192 petitioners were students of the Arajkiya Shikshak Pra-shikshan Vidyalaya (Non-Government Teachers' Training School) at Hajipur, herein-after called 'the School', during the session 1971-73. The School was not recognised by the Government of Bihar or the Bihar School Examination Board, hereinafter called 'the Board'. Fifty-seven students of the same School for the same session filed a writ application in this Court which was numbered as C. W. J. C. No. 1097 of 1977 for a direction to the authorities of the State of Bihar and the Board to permit them to appear at the Teachers' Training School Examination to be held in the year 1977. The application was admitted and an ad interim order was passed by this Court directing the authorities to permit the petitioners of that case to appear at the aforesaid examination, subject to the condition that their result would not be published pending the final orders on the writ application. During the pendency of that application, these 192 petitioners and one Awadhesh Prasad Sinha, who also was a student of the said School during the same session, filed an application for being added as parties in C. W. J. C. No. 1097 of 1977. The application for addition of parties was ordered to be put up at the time of the hearing of the main application. That application was disposed of by order of this Court dt. 31-1-1978, a copy whereof is Annexure '1' to the present writ application. By that order, this Court directed that the result of those of the petitioners of that case who had appeared at the 1977 Examination and had passed, may be declared. So far as these petitioners and the other person who had applied to be added as parties were concerned, this Court rejected their application for being added as parties with a direction that the departmental authorities "will consider their case in the light of the observations made above and redress their grievances, if legitimately, possible". The relevant observations would be stated later on.

(2.) After the aforesaid decision, the Principal of the School accepted fees and application forms of the present petitioners for permission to appear at the 1978 Examination and forwarded the same to the District Education Officer, Vaishali. The District Education Officer by his letter dt. 4-1-1978, a copy of which was forwarded to the Principal of the School and is Annexure '2' to this writ application, reported to the Board that be had examined the records of the School in the light of the judgment of this Court in C. W. J. C. No. 1097 of 1977 and found that the names of these students and other students numbering in all 250 had been duly entered in the Admission Register of the School between January 1971 and March 1971 and that all the students had undergone full training for two years and intimated that he had, therefore, countersigned the application forms for appearing at the examination and directed the Principal to forward the same to the Board, so that the students may be able to appear at the next training examination. Application forms along with fees were forwarded by the Principal to the Board. By letter No. 4085 dated 27-7-1970 Deputy Secretary of the Bihar School Examination Board (respondent No. 2) asked the Principal of the School to submit the application forms of the petitioners using the new forms which have been prescribed and not the old forms which had been utilised, In compliance with this direction, the Principal of the School re-sent the application forms of the petitioners on the new forms. Though the examination fees deposited were not returned, admit cards enabling the petitioners to appear at the examination were not issued and the petitioners were, therefore, unable to appear at the examination in that year. The petitioners made efforts to appear at the aforesaid examination held in the year 1979 and 1980 and the Principal forwarded their forms, but no admit cards were issued and the petitioners were unable to appear in the examinations of 1979 and 1980 also. The petitioners, thereafter, applied for permission to appear at the examination of 1981 and though the Principal recommended their case and sent the fees and forms to the Board, no reply was received from the Board and the petitioners on 12-2-1981 filed the present application in this Court for a direction to the respondents to allow the petitioners to sit at the 1981 Teachers Training School Examination.

(3.) According to the petitioners, though they have been denied permission to appear at the examination, Awadhesh Prasad Sinha who had also applied for along with these petitioners to be added as party petitioner in C. W. J. C. No. 1097 of 1977 had been allowed to appear and his result had also been published. Petitioner contended that in view of the judgment of this Court in C. W. J. C. No. 1097 of 1977 and the report of the District Education Officer, Vaishali, stating that the petitioners had completed their training and also in view of the fact that the Board had accepted the fees deposited by the petitioners, they had a right to appear at the examination. The petitioners further contend that their constitutional right to equality had been infringed inasmuch as while other students, specially Awadhesh Prasad Sinha, who belonged to the same session of the School as the petitioners, had been permitted to appear at the examination, permission to appear at the Examination had been denied to the petitioners who are similarly situate.