1178 No. Dakhin Khatowal Muktab School and Anr v. The State of Assam and 7 Ors

ORDER

01.02.2023

¶1Heard Mr. J.C. Borah, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. R. Sarma, Page No.# 3/4 learned counsel for the respondent no.8. Mr. N.J. Khataniar, learned counsel appears for the Elementary Education Department; Mr. S. Bora, learned counsel appears for the respondent no.3 and Mr. G. Pegu, learned counsel appears for the respondent nos.4 & 5.

¶2The petitioner herein has prayed for setting aside and quashing the impugned Notification dated 08.04.2022, issued by the respondent no.2, whereby 1178 No. Dakhin Khatowal Muktab School has been amalgamated with Dakhin Khatowal M.E. Madrassa of Nagaon District under the Siksha-Khetra Scheme. The petitioner has also prayed for setting aside the impugned letter dated 21.09.2022 issued by the respondent no.6.

¶3At the outset, Mr. N.J. Khataniar, learned counsel has submitted Order No.E 225754/1 dated 10.09.2022 issued by the Secretary to the Government of Assam, Department of School Education, which states that the Department of School Education has constituted an Amalgamation/Merger Re-Verification Committee, to re-consider the order of amalgamation and mergers of schools.

¶4Mr. N.J. Khataniar submits that as the question of whether the amalgamation of the two schools in this case should be done away with, can be decided by the Amalgamation/Merger Re-Verification Committee in terms of the order dated 10.09.2022, the dispute herein should be referred to the said Committee. The counsels for the petitioner and the respondent no.8 also do not have any objection to the same.

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¶5In view of the consent of the parties, the petitioner is given the liberty to file a representation to the Amalgamation/Merger Re-Verification Committee, with regard to his grievance against the amalgamation of the two schools, which should be done within a period of 2 (two) weeks from today. The respondent no.8 shall also be given opportunity of submitting a reply and documents in support of his submission with regard to the amalgamation of schools. The Amalgamation/Merger Re-Verification Committee is directed to take an expeditious decision with regard to the dispute and preferably within a period of 2 (two) months, from the date of receipt of the petitioner's representation accompanied by a copy of this order. The decision of the Amalgamation/Merger Re-Verification Committee should be made only after giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and the respondent no.8. Till a decision is taken by the Amalgamation/Merger Re-Verification Committee, status quo order passed on

29.09.2022 shall continue to operate. The order dated 10.09.2022 is made a part of the record and marked as Annexure-'X'

¶6The writ petition is accordingly disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010266492022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:ooWP(C)/6594/2022 1178oNO.oDAKHINoKHATOWALoMUKTABoSCHOOLoANDoANR. REP.oBYoITSoHEADMASTER-oABDUSoSALAM oS/O.oLT.oAFAZoUDDIN oVILL.oDAKHINoKHATOWAL oP.O.oTARABARI oP.S.oRUPAHIHAT oDIST.oNAGAON oASSAM. 2:oABUoSHARMA S/O.oLT.oABEDoALI oPRESIDENToOFoSCHOOLoMANAGINGoCOMMITTEE o1178oNO.oDAKHINoKHATOWAL oP.O.oTARABARI oP.S.oRUPAHIHAT oDIST.oNAGAON oASSAM. oVERSUS THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo7oORS. REP.oBYoTHEoCOMM.oANDoSECY.oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoDEPTT. oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-06. 2:THEoDIRECTOR ELEMENTARYoEDUCATION oASSAM oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI-19. o3:THEoMISSIONoDIRECTOR SSA oASSAM Page No.# 2/4 KAHILIPARA GUWAHATI-19. 4:THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NAGAON ASSAM PIN-782001. 5:THE ADC (EDUCATION) CUM DMC SSA NAGAON ASSAM. 6:THE DIST. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION OFFICER NAGAON ASSAM PIN-782001. 7:THE BLOCK ELEMENTARY EDUCATION OFFICER LAWKHOWA NAGAON DIST. NAGAON ASSAM PIN-7821 8:THE HEADMASTER DAKHIN KHATOWAL MIDDLE ENGLISH MADRASSA VILL. DAKHIN KHATOWAL P.O. TARABARI P.S. RUPAHIHAT DIST. NAGAON ASSAM PIN-782125. ------------ Advocate for : MR J C BORAH Advocate for : GA ASSAM appearing for THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 7 ORS. BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MICHAEL ZOTHANKHUMA