Mahatma Sevagram High School v. Preetom Saikia and 4 Ors

ORDER

21-03-2023 Heard Ms. S.B. Choudhury, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. S.M.T.Chistie, learned Standing counsel, Department of School Education, Assam for the respondent Nos. 1, 2, 4 & 5. Also heard Mr. D.K. Roy, learned Standing counsel for the respondent No. 3.

¶2Though the petitioner School approached the respondent authorities for granting permission to open Class-X in the school, namely, Mahatma Sevagram High School at Graham Bazar, District-Dibrugarh under the Mahatma Sevagram Society so as to become eligible for financial assistance from the State Government, but the respondent authorities have not done anything with regard to the application filed for opening of Class-X in the said school.

¶3The said school is in existence since 1997 imparting education upto Class-IX and when it approached the State Government for granting financial assistance in terms of the order dated

31.07.2014 passed by the Court in WP(C) No. 758/2013, the Director of Secondary Education, Assam rejected such prayer of the petitioner school in granting financial assistance to it on the ground that the school must have recognition from the Board of Secondary Education Assam (SEBA) for imparting education upto Class-X and as the said school has been granted permission to impart education only upto Class-IX which has not been for imparting education upto Class-X, it is not eligible for the financial assistance.

¶4Being aggrieved with the same, the petitioner school preferred a writ petition being WP(C) No. 6591/2017 which was disposed of on 02.08.2019 with the observation that –" this Court is of the view that if the Inspector of Schools had made the necessary inspection and if the school is otherwise, Page No.# 3/4 eligible for opening up Class-X, for which necessary recommendation was made accordingly, the authorities shall consider the same and pass appropriate order in this regard so that the Board of Secondary Education may consider granting of approval for opening Class-X in the school in which event they can apply to the State Government for grant of financial assistance.

¶5The aforesaid consideration relating to grant of permission to open Class-X may be considered by the State authorities, more particularly, respondent No. 2 within a period of 3 (three) months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. As regards the claim for financial assistance, it is for the Government to decide the same in accordance with the prevailing rules and norms in that regard."

¶6By filing an additional affidavit in this contempt petition on 17.02.2022, the petitioner school apprised the Court about the communication under No. SEBA/ Recog/Class-X Per/2017-18/VI/24 dated 09.12.2021 whereby the Secretary of Board of Secondary Education, Assam granted the School Code and provisional recognition to the petitioner school as Private Institution in accordance with the Assam Non-Government Educational Institutions (Regulation and Management) Act, 2006 under the Assam Non-Government Educational Institutions (Regulation and Management) Rules, 2007 specifying the School Code No. 09H1019 with the School Status-RP and Medium as Assamese subject to the condition that the academic standard laid down in the Board's Regulation for Recognition of High School is thoroughly adhered to, specifying that on their failure to comply with said standard, the recognition will be withdrawn at any time if Board deems necessary.

¶7It is stated that though the petitioner School is given School Code with the provisional recognition of SEBA vide communication dated 09.12.2021 for opening of Class-X but it has not yet been granted any financial assistance and the said part of the order dated 02.08.2019 passed in WP(C) No. 6591/2017 is yet to be complied with by the respondent authorities in the Secondary Education Department.

¶8On perusal of para 6 of the said order dated 02.08.2019, noted above, it can be seen that the Court specifically observed that the respondent authorities shall consider granting of approval for opening Class-X in the petitioner school and in that event, the petitioner school can apply before the State Government to grant financial assistance.

¶9However, there is nothing before this Court that after obtaining such approval for opening of Class-X in said Mahatma Sevagram High School on 09.12.2021 from SEBA, the authorities of the said Page No.# 4/4 School applied before the Government for Financial Assistance that is pending for consideration.

¶10Moreover, by the communication dated 09.12.2021, the Secretary of SEBA granted the petitioner school with its school code and provisional recognition as private institute under the said 2006 Act and 2007 Rules noted above.

¶11Further, the petitioner school is not aggrieved with the order dated 09.12.2021 of SEBA in granting provisional recognition for opening Class-X in it along with the school code.

¶12At this stage, Ms. Choudhury, learned counsel for the petitioner school submits that the application has been filed before the appropriate authority for granting of financial assistance to the said school.

¶13In view of the above, this Court is of the opinion that the respondent authorities have not committed any such contempt of Court rather complied with the order dated 02.08.2019 passed in said WP(C) No. 6591/2017 granting provisional approval to open Class-X in the said school.

¶14Needless to say that in the event of filling an application for granting of financial assistance to the petitioner school i.e., Mahatma Sevagram High School at Graham Bazar, District-Dibrugarh after said provisional recognition of Class-X in that School, the respondent authorities in the Secondary Education as well as the Finance Department of the State shall consider it in accordance with law and following the relevant provisions and rules considering the fact that said School obtained provisional recognition of Class-X from SEBA on 09.12.2021 as a private institute under the Assam Non-Government Educational Institutions (Regulation and Management) Act, 2006 and the Assam Non-Government Educational Institutions (Regulation and Management) Rules, 2007.

¶15Accordingly, this contempt petition stands closed.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010252042022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:ooCont.Cas(C)/472/2020 MAHATMAoSEVAGRAMoHIGHoSCHOOL REP.oBYoITSoPRESIDENT/MANAGERoOFoMAHATMAoSEVAGRAMoSOCIETY oA.T.ROAD oGRAHAMoBAZAR oDIBRUGARH-o780001 oVERSUS PREETOMoSAIKIAoANDo4oORS. THEoCOMM.oANDoSECY.oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oEDUCATIONo(SECONDARY)oDEPTT. oDISPUR oGHY-06 2:PHANINDRAoJIDUNG THEoDIRECTORoOFoSECONDARYoEDUCATION oASSAM oKAHILIPARA oGHY-19 o3:CHIRANJANAoSENAPATI THEoSECY. oSEBA oBAMUNIMAIDAM oGHY-21 o4:BHARAToBHUSHANoDEBAoCHOUDHURY COMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oEDUCATIONo(SECONDARY)oDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-781006. o5:SMT.oMAMATAoHOJAI DIRECTORoOFoSECONDARYoEDUCATION oASSAM oKAHILIPARA Page No.# 2/4 GUWAHATI-781019. ------------ Advocate for : MS. S B CHOUDHURY Advocate for : MR S M T CHISTIE (r-4) appearing for PREETOM SAIKIA AND 4 ORS. BEFORE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANASH RANJAN PATHAK