Madras High Court
G.S. Rajendran vs State Represented By The Inspector Of ...
Author: P.N.Prakash
Bench: P.N.Prakash
1
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
RESERVED ON: 01.04.2019
DELIVERED ON: 15.04.2019
CORAM:
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE P.N.PRAKASH
Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012 &
Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012 & Crl.M.P. (MD) No.1 of 2012
W.P. (MD) No.8481 of 2012 & M.P. (MD) Nos.1 & 2 of 2012
Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012:
G.S. Rajendran Petitioner
vs.
1 State represented by the Inspector of Police
Srivilliputtur Town Police Station
Virudhunagar District
(Cr. No.277 of 2012)
2 Thirumalaippan Respondents
(R2 impleaded vide order dated
09.07.2012 passed in M.P. No.2 of
2012 in Crl.O.P. No.7623 of 2012)
W.P. (MD) No.8481 of 2012:
1 Srivi Lions Matriculation Higher Secondary School
represented by its Secretary and Correspondent
N.G.G.O. Colony
Srivilliputhur
Virudhunagar District Petitioner
vs.
2 The Inspector of Matriculation Schools
Virudhunagar
3 The Director of Matriculation Schools
Chennai 600 006 Respondents
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2
Prayer in Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012:
Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. seeking
to set aside the order dated 29.05.2012 passed by the Principal Sessions
Court (Court of the Vacation Sessions Judge) at Srivilliputtur in Crl.M.P.
No.2640 of 2012 in respect of (i) declaring the smart class fees collected
by the school as illegal, (ii) directing the school to return the smart class
fees collected from the students and (iii) directing the Inspector of
Matriculation Schools, Virudhunagar District, to enforce the said order
within a period of two weeks.
Prayer in W.P. (MD) No.8481 of 2012:
Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India
seeking a writ of certiorari by calling for the records of the first
respondent relating to his proceedings dated 04.06.2012 made in Rc.No.
113/B/2012 and quash the same as illegal.
For petitioner in Mr. V. Radhakrishnan, Sr. Counsel
both Crl.O.P. & W.P. for Mr. S. Kadarkarai
For respondents Ms. S. Srimathy
in W.P. Special Government Pleader
For R1 in Crl.O.P. Mr. M. Chandrasekar
Additional Public Prosecutor
For R2 in Crl.O.P. Mr. M. Saravanakumar
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3
COMMON ORDER
Minus the minute details, the facts just necessary and germane for the disposal of the cases at hand are succinctly stated thus:
2.1 Lions Club International, a social and charitable international organisation, started a school and christened it as Srivi Lions Matriculation Higher Secondary School (for brevity “the school”) of which, G.S. Rajendran (A1) was the Principal.
2.2 The fee structure of the school is governed by the Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act, 2009 (for short “the Fee Act”). The Fee Act envisages a Committee for determination of school fees for private schools. In 2011, the Private Schools Fee Determination Committee comprised three members, viz., Justice K.Raviraja Pandian (Retd.), Chairman, N.Rajendran, Member Secretary and P. Mani, Member.
2.3 This Committee went into the fee structure of the school and determined the fees to be collected per student per year from L.K.G. to XII standard. However, in paragraph no.10 of the order dated 27.05.2011, the Committee has clearly stated that the fee fixed by them would exclude the fee for imparting education through technology like http://www.judis.nic.in 4 smart class, etc. and also the fee collected towards supply of books, notebooks, uniforms and transportation facilities, if any.
2.4 Accordingly, the school collected additional amount from the students towards smart class fees for giving them training in the field of Information Technology. A few parents raised a hue and cry and lodged a police complaint, based on which, a case in Cr. No.277 of 2012 was registered on 23.05.2012 for the offences under Sections 167,291,294(b), 406, 420 and 506 (I) IPC against the Headmaster and four others in charge of managing the affairs of the school. The then Headmaster Rajendran (A1) was arrested by the police and remanded to custody. Rajendran (A1) filed Crl.M.P. No.2640 of 2012 before the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, at Srivilliputhur, seeking bail, which was opposed not only by the Public Prosecutor but also by some of the parents.
2.5 The Sessions Judge, Virudhunagar, went into the details of the allegations in the FIR and returned a finding that none of the provisions of the IPC would apply and that the school was required to follow only the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Recognised Private Schools (Regulation) Act, 1973 and the Rules framed thereunder. After returning such a finding, the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, granted bail to Rajendran (A1) but, inter alia, issued a direction to the school to return http://www.judis.nic.in 5 the smart class fees to the students and a further direction to the Inspector of Matriculation Schools, to enforce its order within a period of two weeks.
2.6 Based on the directions of the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, the Inspector of Matriculation Schools, passed an order dated 04.06.2012 directing the school to return the smart class fees collected from the students by way of individual cheques.
2.7 Under such circumstances, Rajendran (A1) has filed Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012 to set aside the aforementioned directions issued by the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, in the bail order dated 29.05.2012 and the Management of the school has filed W.P. (MD) No.8481 of 2012 seeking to set aside the order dated 04.06.2012 passed by the Inspector of Matriculation Schools.
3 When W.P. (MD) No.8481 of 2012 came up for hearing before a learned Single Judge, a direction was issued to the Registry to post the same along with Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012 and only in such a circumstance, both Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012 and W.P. (MD) No. 8481 of 2012 have been posted before this Court as “Specially Ordered Cases”.
http://www.judis.nic.in 6 4 Heard Mr. V. Radhakrishnan, learned Senior Counsel representing Mr.S. Kadarkarai, learned counsel on record for the school, Ms. S. Srimathy, learned Special Government Pleader for the respondents in the writ petition, Mr. M. Chandrasekar, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the first respondent police in Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012 and Mr. M. Saravanakumar, learned counsel for the second respondent in Cr.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012.
5 It is indeed very strange that the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, after having returned a finding that none of the provisions of the IPC would apply, had miserably fallen in error by holding that the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Private Schools (Regulation) Act would apply, ignoring the Fee Act.
6 In the considered opinion of this Court, after having granted bail to the Headmaster of the school, the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the correctness or otherwise of the collection of smart class fees by the school from the students, because, this falls within the ambit of the Fee Act. The parameters for grant of bail and refusal to grant bail would not cover these aspects. Bail is a rule and jail is an exception. In this case, the http://www.judis.nic.in 7 Headmaster was arrested and incarcerated for having implemented the decision of the school Management to collect the smart class fees. There was no material on record for the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, to infer that the Headmaster would abscond after getting bail or that he would tamper with the witnesses, in the event of he being granted bail.
7 Therefore, this Court has no incertitude in holding that the directions issued by the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, to the school to return the smart class fees to the students and further direction to the Inspector of Matriculations Schools, to implement its order dated 29.05.2012, are indubitably beyond the scope of bail powers and hence, those directions are set aside. As a sequel, Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012 is allowed. Connected Crl.M.P. is closed.
8 Coming to the prayer in the writ petition, the order dated 04.06.2012 passed by the Inspector of Matriculation Schools impugned in the writ petition, is pursuant to the directions issued by the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, vide its order dated 29.05.2012 granting bail to Rajendran (A1), as could be seen from the reference column and also the beginning words of the impugned order itself.
9 At the risk of repetition, this Court is constrained to state here that the question of collection of smart class fees has been http://www.judis.nic.in 8 authorised by the order dated 27.05.2011 passed by the Private Schools Fee Determination Committee constituted under the Fee Act. Since this Court has set aside the direction issued by the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, in the bail order qua return of smart class fees to the students and also the direction issued to the Inspector of Matriculation Schools to enforce its order, as a natural corollary, the order passed by the Inspector of Matriculation Schools, in pursuance of the order dated 29.05.2012 passed by the Sessions Court, Virudhunagar, has to fall to ground and is accordingly quashed. As a natural sequitur, the writ petition stands allowed. Costs made easy. Connected Miscellaneous Petitions are closed.
To sum up, both Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012 and W.P. (MD) No. 8481 of 2012 are allowed.
16.04.2019 cad Index : Yes/No Speaking order/Non-speaking order Note to Office: Issue order copy by 16.04.2019 http://www.judis.nic.in 9 To 1 The Inspector of Police Srivilliputtur Town Police Station Virudhunagar District 2 The Inspector of Matriculation Schools Virudhunagar 3 The Director of Matriculation Schools Chennai 600 006 4 The Principal Sessions Court (Court of the Vacation Sessions Judge) at Srivilliputtur 5 The Principal Sessions Judge (Court of the Vacation Sessions Judge) at Srivilliputtur 6 The Record Keeper Vernacular Records Section Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Madurai 7 The Additional Public Prosecutor Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Madurai http://www.judis.nic.in 10 P.N.PRAKASH, J.
cad Crl.O.P. (MD) No.7623 of 2012 & W.P. (MD) No.8481 of 2012 15.04.2019 http://www.judis.nic.in