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Showing contexts for: maladministration in Gandhi Faizeam College Shahajahanpur vs University Of Agra And Another on 3 March, 1975Matching Fragments
" Section 33-A which provides for a new governing body for the management of the college and also for selection committees as well as the constitution thereof would conse- quently have to be quashed so far as the minority educational institutions are concerned because of the contravention of Article 30(1)."814
On behalf of Chandrachud, J. and myself, I said "The requirement that the college should have a governing body which shall include persons other than those who are members of the governing body of the Society of Jesus would take away the management of the college from the governing body constituted by the Society of Jesus and vest it in a different body. The right to administer the educational institution established by a religious minority is vested in it. It is in the governing body of the society of Jesus that the religious minority which established the college has vested the right to administer the institution and that body alone has the right to administer the same. The requirement that the college should have a governing body including persons other than those who constitute the governing body of the Society of Jesus has the effect of divesting that body of its exclusive right to manage the educational institution. That it is desirable in the opinion of the legislature to associate the Principal of the college or-the other persons referred to in s. 33A(1) (a) in the management of the college is not a relevant consideration. The question is whether the provision has the effect of divesting the governing body as constituted by the religious minority of its exclusive right to administer the institution. Under the guise of preventing maladministration, the right of the governing body of the college constituted by the religious minority to administer the institution cannot be taken away."
interferes with the composition of the governing body or the managing council as constituted by the religious or linguistic minority is an abridgment of the right of the religious minorities to administer the educational institution established by it [see also W. Proost v. Bihar(1) and Rev. Bishop S. K. Patro v. Bihar (2) ]. The determination of the, composition of the body to administer the educational institution established by a religious minority must be left to the minority as that is the core of the right to administer. Regulations to prevent maladministration by that body are permissible. As the right to determine the composition of the body which will administer the educational institution is the very essence of the right to administer guaranteed to the religious or linguistic minority under Article 30(1), any interference in that area by an outside authority cannot be anything but an abridgment of that right. The religious or linguistic minority must be given the freedom to constitute the agency through which it proposes to administer the educational institution established by it as that is what Article 30(1) guarantees. The right to shape its creation is one thing :
the right to regulate the manner in which it would function after it has come into being is another. Regulations are permissible to prevent maladministration but they can only relate to the manner of administration after the body which is to administer has come into being. The provisions of Statute 14A are in pari materia with those of s.33A(1)(a) of the Act which fell for consideration in Ahmedabad St. Xavier's College case (supra) except that only the principal and the senior-most member of the staff alone are required to be included in the managing committee of the college in question here. But, in principle, that makes no difference. The principle, as I said, is that the minority community has the exclusive right to vest the administration of the college in a body of its own choice, and any compulsion from an outside authority to include any other person in that body is an abridgment of its fundamental right to administer the educational institution. It is, no doubt, true that it is upon the principal and the teachers that the whole temper and the tone of a college depend. But that does not mean that the principal and the teachers should be members of the governing council of a college. It was only in the context of the right of the religious or linguistic minority to appoint the principal and teachers of the college established by it that we said in Amendabad St. Xavier's College case (supra) "It is upon the principal and teachers of a college that the tone and temper of an educational institution depend. On them would depend its reputation, the maintenance of discipline and its efficiency in teaching. The right to choose the principal and to have the teaching conducted by teachers appointed by the management after an overall assessment of their outlook and philosophy is perhaps the most important (1) [1969] 2 S.C.R. 73 at 77-78.
A dichotomy is sometimes drawn in this branch of juridical discussion. More plainly,. the difference drawn is between creating a Managing body by the minority community and regulation of the manner of its functioning to obviate maladministration. The former is ordinarily beyond the pale of legislative prescription while the latter is permissible as a preservative. Broadly, this is sound, but as a rigid logical formula it breaks down. For, some regulations may impinge marginally upon the composition of the administrative organ though manifestly meant to save the institution from mismanagement. Just one or two examples. If the law says that a person that a person sentenced for a prescribed period of imprisonment for breach of trust or an undischarged insolvent would be disqualified to be the treasurer or one who has been removed from public office for moral delinquency or has been punished for outraging the religious feelings of the very minority under s.295-A, I.P.C. should not hold office on the govern my body, such a regulation affects the structure of the governing body but is indubitably a protection against likely maladministration. Likewise, supposing the management has to award scholarships to students of merit, decide on courses of study to be undertaken, regulate teacher-students committee and discipline, who but the Principal chosen by the minority itself will be better on the Committee to guide it in these vital affairs. These fine but real lines cannot be obfuscated by excessive emphasis on the character of the organ as against its method of working. Men matter in extreme situations.