CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF SCHOOL EDUCATION, HARYANA, BHIWANI vs SUNITA RANI

THE Chairman of the School Education Board, Haryana, Bhiwani, has come up in appeal against the order dated 4.7.1994 passed by the learned District Consumer Forum, Jagadhri, by which the School Education Board, Haryana, Bhiwani, was directed to declare the result of the complainant of an examination for which the complainant had sent her admission form on 23.7.1993 under a registered cover.

ACCORDING to the complainant the last date for receipt of the form was 5.8.1993 but since the form was received late it was not possible for her to appear in the examination. Aggrieved against that she filed a civil suit in the Court of the Sub-Judge, 1st Class, Jagadhri, for the allotment of a provisional roll number to enable her to sit in the examination. Thereafter the complainant approached the learned District Consumer Forum for the declaration of her result. The learned District Consumer Forum allowed the complaint and directed the School Education Board, Haryana, to declare her result forthwith as the complainant had withdrawn the civil suit. In the appeal before us it has been contended by the learned Counsel for the appellant that the civil suit was still pending on the date the learned District Consumer Forum had allowed the complaint on 4.7.1994 and apart from that the dispute could not be settled under the consumer jurisdiction. Since the matter was fairly old, we considered it necessary to verify as to whether the complainant had in the meantime appeared in the Matriculation examination and what actually was the position with regard to the pendency of the civil suit. Mr. Ram Chand, Deputy Secretary, Board of School Education, Haryana, Bhiwani, has filed affidavit on 1.8.1997 in which it is stated that the complainant had been allowed to appear in the Matriculation examination commencing on 22.9.1993 and the provisional roll number was issued to her. He further stated that it was during the pendency of the civil suit that the complainant had approached the learned District Consumer Form, Jagadhri. It has further been stated in the affidavit that the civil suit was still pending in the Court of Sub-Judge, 1st Class, Jagadhri, when the complaint was allowed by the learned District Consumer Forum.

After hearing the learned Counsel for the parties and having gone through the record we are satisfied that the complainant had been pursuing two parallel remedies - one before the civil Court and the second before the learned District Consumer Forum, Jagadhri. This was neither legal nor fair for the complainant. It has been held as under by Hon''ble the National Commission in Joint Secretary, Gujarat Secondary Education, Board v. Bharat Nuruttum Thakkar, I (1994) CPJ 187 (NC), Revision Petition No. 111 of 1993:- "We agree with the contention advanced by the Counsel appearing for the Board of Secondary Education, Gujarat, that in conducting the Secondary School Board Examinations, evaluating answer papers, announcing the results thereof and thereafter conducting a re-checking of the marks of any candidate on application made by the concerned candidate, the Board is not performing any service for hire and there is no arrangement of hiring of any service involved in such a situation as is contemplated by Section 2(1)(o) of the Consumer Protection Act. The complainant in this case was not, therefore, a consumer and no relief should have been granted in his favour as against the Board of Secondary Education on the ground forwarded by the candidate that there was delay in conducting the rechecking of the marks. The revision petition is accordingly allowed and the impugned orders are set aside and the complaint petition is dismissed. The parties will bear their respective costs".

ACCORDINGLY, we allow this appeal filed by the Chairman, School Education Board, Haryana, Bhawani, and set aside the order passed by the learned District Consumer Forum, Jagadhri, thereby dismissing the complaint as infructuous and also as not maintainable. In the circumstances, there is no order as to costs. Appeal allowed. ____________