Meghalaya High Court
Arya Samaj&Anr. vs . State Of Meghalaya & Ors. on 5 December, 2019
Author: Mohammad Rafiq
Bench: Mohammad Rafiq
Serial No. 04
Supplementary List HIGH COURT OF MEGHALAYA
AT SHILLONG
WP(C) No. 533 of 2019
Date of order: 05.12.2019
Arya Samaj&Anr. Vs. State of Meghalaya & Ors.
Coram:
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Mohammad Rafiq, Chief Justice
Appearance:
For the Petitioner/Appellant(s) : Mr. M.F. Qureshi, Adv.
For the Respondent(s) : Ms. S.G. Momin, Sr. GA
1. Issue notice.
2. Learned State counsel Ms. S.G. Momin accepts notice on behalf of the respondents.
3. This writ petition has been filed by Arya Samaj through its Secretary which is a registered Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and was established on 16.07.1935. It is contended that the petitioner No. 1 is a sponsoring body of two schools namely, (i) Arya KanyaVidyalaya Secondary School, Laitumkhrah, Shillong and (ii) Arya Vidyalaya Secondary School, Jhalupara, Shillong.
4. According to the petitioners, these are the minority schools protected under Article 30 of the Constitution of India. The dispute over the management of the Arya Samaj School at Laitumkhrah was decided by the erstwhile Gauhati High Court, Shillong Bench vide judgment and order dated 24.11.2000 thereby, the High Court declared Arya Samaj School as minority school. The last managing committee of the Arya KanyaVidyalaya Secondary, Upper Primary and L.P. School, Laitumkhrah, Shillong was constituted by Arya Samaj and approved for a period of three years by the District School Education Officer, East Khasi Hills District, Shillong vide order dated 30.11.2016 w.e.f. 12.12.2016 to 11.12.2019. The tenure of the managing committee of the said school is going to expire on 11.12.2019. It is contended that as per the norms, proposal for constitution and re-constitution of the Managing Committee of the school is required to be submitted to respondent No. 3 i.e., the District School Education Officer, East Khasi Hills, Shillong, Meghalaya WP(C) No. 533 of 2019 Page 1 before expiry of the existing managing committee who is competent to give approval to the school managing committee for a period of three years. Even though the new managing committee was re-constituted by the Arya KanyaVidyalaya Secondary, U. P. and L.P. School, Laitumkrhah, Shillong in meetings held by the outgoing school managing committee on 13.07.2019 and 26.07.2019 in which the guardian's representative and the teacher's representative were elected as well as in a meeting subsequently held on 03.08.2019, the Donor's representative was elected. Besides, the Headmaster was also elected as Joint Secretary. The petitioner No. 1 being the sponsoring body of the school nominated four persons to be inducted in the school managing committee.
5. The petitioners submitted a list of the members of the said school managing committee for approval to respondent No. 3 the District School Education Officer, East Khasi Hills, Shillong, Meghalaya however, respondent No. 3 has not granted any approval although he is expected to do so before expiry of the tenure of the outgoing school managing committee. In the event, his not doing so, difficulty might arise in the management of the school.
6. Having regard to the limited nature of grievance of the petitioners, respondent No. 3 the District School Education Officer, East Khasi Hills, Shillong, Meghalaya is directed to take a final view on the proposal of re- constitution of the managing committee submitted by the petitioners within one week from the date copy of this order is produced before him.
7. Writ petition is accordingly disposed of.
(Mohammad Rafiq) Chief Justice Meghalaya 05.12.2019 "Sylvana PS"
WP(C) No. 533 of 2019 Page 2