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Judgment
Dilip Gupta, J.—Writ Petition No. 29384 of 2010 has been filed by the Committee of Management, Ansar Inter College, Moradabad and Israr Husain claiming to be its Manager, for setting aside the decision taken by the Regional Level Committee on 5th May, 2010 by which the representation filed by Israr Husain has been rejected and a direction has been issued to the District Inspector of Schools for holding fresh elections of the Committee of Management of the Institution within two months from amongst the 123 members of the General Body.
Writ Petition No. 33470 of 2010 has been filed by Iftekar Husain and ten others for also challenging the aforesaid decision taken by the Regional Level Committee on 5th May, 2010 and for quashing the consequential publication dated 21st May, 2010 regarding holding of the elections of the Committee of Management of the Institution on 8th June, 2010.
It is stated that a registered Society known as ''Ansar Vernacular Middle School, Moradabad'', which is a Society registered under the provisions of the Societies Registration Act, 1860, established the "Ansar Inter College, Moradabad" (hereinafter referred to as the ''Institution'') which is an Intermediate College, governed by the provisions of the U.P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921. The Institution has its own Scheme of Administration. On 19th July, 1999, the District Inspector of Schools approved the list of 115 members of the General Body and after the death of 7 members, the list of 108 members was approved by the Joint Director of Education by the order dated 29th October, 2003. The elections of the Committee of Management of the Institution were held on 29th July, 1999 on the basis of the aforesaid list of 115 members and petitioner No. 2 in Writ Petition No. 29384 of 2010 Israr Husain was elected as the Manager and Moin Uddin was elected as the President. Subsequently, the elections of the Committee of Management of the Institution were held on 8th December, 2003 from the list of 108 members as 7 members of the General Body had died in the meantime. It is claimed that petitioner No. 2-Israr Husain was again elected as the Manager but the District Inspector of Schools on 3rd January, 2004 attested the signatures of Moin Uddin who claimed to have been elected as the Manager on 18th August, 2003. This order dated 3rd January, 2004 passed by the District Inspector of Schools was assailed by the Committee of Management with Israr Husain as the Manager in Writ Petition No. 2355 of 2004 in which an interim order was passed on 2nd April, 2004 staying the operation of the impugned order dated 3rd January, 2004 and it was further directed that the Institution shall be managed by the District Inspector of Schools, Moradabad. Writ Petition No. 2355 of 2004 was ultimately allowed on 4th November, 2008.
It transpires that pursuant to the directions issued on 10th December, 2008 in Special Appeals filed by Moin Uddin, the Regional Level Committee directed the District Inspector of Schools, by the order dated 20th August, 2009, to hold elections in accordance with the electoral college of 121 members as declared by the District Inspector of Schools by the order dated 25th April, 2003. This order was assailed by the petitioners in Writ Petition No. 51965 of 2009 which was allowed by the judgment and order dated 15th October, 2009 and the matter was remitted to the Regional Level Committee to pass a fresh order.
It is pursuant to the aforesaid judgment that the Regional Level Committee has made the following observations and issued certain directions in the impugned decision:
The main issue that needs to be determined for the purposes of determining the electoral college is whether the decision taken by the Committee of Management on 22nd September, 2002 regarding the expulsion of certain members and enrollment of new members is correct or not and whether the agenda issued on 16th September, 2002 for the meeting to be convened on 22nd September, 2002 is in accordance with the provisions of the Scheme of Administration of the Institution or not.
Israr Husain and his supporters have contended that meeting of the Committee of Management of the Institution was not held on 22nd September, 2002 and nor any agenda for holding of the said meeting was issued.
Moin Uddin, on the other hand, has contended that an emergent meeting of the Committee of Management of the Institution was convened on 22nd September, 2002 by the Secretary with the approval of the President and agenda was properly issued on 16th September, 2002.
The documents produced by Moin Uddin show that in the agenda register, eight members had signed the receipts of the notice issued on 16th September, 2002 but Israr Husain, Mohd. Abbas, Mohd. Yusuf and Intazar Husain refused to sign.
From the agenda register produced by Moin Uddin, it is clear that four members namely Sabir Husain, Suhaib Sultan, Shamshad Husain and Mohd. Ashraf had signed the agenda notice but they are now claiming that the meeting was not held. This apart, Israr Husain, Mohd. Abbas, Mohd. Yusuf and Intazar Husain had knowledge of the aforesaid meeting held on 22nd September, 2002 and they had also attended the meeting but had refused to sign the agenda notice. Thus, the agenda issued on 16th September, 2002 and the meeting held on 22nd September, 2002 was in accordance with the Scheme of Administration of the Institution and the decision taken in the said meeting held on 22nd September, 2002 regarding the inclusion of 69 members as life members including 12 ordinary members and expulsion of 42 members is correct.
The Regional Level Committee, accordingly, finalised the list of 123 members after excluding the names of such persons who have died.
It is the submission of Sri P.N. Saxena, learned Senior Counsel and Sri R.K. Ojha, learned Counsel for the petitioners that the decision taken by the Regional Level Committee deserves to be set aside inasmuch as the meeting said to have been held on 22nd September, 2002 was not convened in accordance with the Scheme of Administration of the Institution. It is their submission that the respondents failed to substantiate that the notice of the agenda circulated on 16th September, 2002 for holding of the meeting on 22nd September, 2002 was circulated to all the members of the General Body and in the absence of such information, the meeting could not have been held on 22nd September, 2002. It is also their submission that the Regional Level Committee has merely on conjectures and surmises recorded a finding that the agenda for holding the meeting of the Committee of Management on 22nd September, 2002 was in the knowledge of all the members and for this purpose they have placed before the Court the finding recorded by the Regional Level Committee that since it was stated by Moin Uddin that four members namely Israr Husain, Mohd. Abbas, Mohd. Yusuf and Intazar Husain refused to sign the agenda notice, it must be treated that they had knowledge of the agenda.
Sri Gajendra Pratap, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the respondents, however, submitted that there is no infirmity in the impugned decision taken by the Regional Level Committee which may call for any interference under Article 226 of the Constitution. It is his submission that on the basis of the material placed before the Regional Level Committee by the parties, a categorical finding has been recorded that the issuance of the agenda on 16th September, 2002 for holding the meeting of the Committee of Management of the Institution on 22nd September, 2002 was in accordance with the Scheme of Administration of the Institution and it is not open to the petitioners to assail this finding in a writ petition as the said finding does not suffer from any perversity.
I have considered the submissions advanced by the learned Counsel for the parties.
A perusal of the decision taken by the Regional Level Committee clearly shows that it is only on the basis of conjectures and surmises that the Regional Level Committee has recorded a finding that the agenda notice was circulated to all the members. In the first instance the Scheme of Administration of the Institution clearly requires the sending of the notice by registered post. In the present case the notices were not sent by registered post and inference has been sought to be drawn on the basis of the documents produced by the respondents before the Regional Level Committee. Even in respect of these documents only an inference has been drawn by the Regional Level Committee that since Moin Uddin had made a statement that four members refused to sign the attendance register, it must be presumed that this statement is correct and so these members had knowledge of the meeting to be held on 22nd September, 2002. The meeting held on 22nd September, 2002 is crucial since it is stated that in the said meeting 69 members were enrolled as life members and 42 members were expelled. The constitution of the General Body, therefore, largely depends upon the decision said to have been taken in the said meeting. In the absence of any evidence to suggest that the notice of the meeting was circulated to all the members of the General Body and more particularly when the Scheme of Administration requires the sending of such notice by registered post, the Court has no hesitation in holding that some of the members of the General Body including the four members referred to above, were not informed of the meeting of the Committee of Management to be held on 22nd September, 2002.
The decision taken in the said meeting regarding inclusion of certain members and exclusion of certain members cannot, therefore, be sustained. The matter, therefore, deserves to be sent back to the Regional Level Committee to pass a fresh order strictly in accordance with the Scheme of Administration of the Institution.
Thus, for all the reasons stated above, Writ Petition No. 29384 of 2010 and Writ Petition No. 33470 of 2010 are allowed and the decision taken by the Regional Level Committee on 5th October, 2010 and the consequential publication on 21st May, 2010 are set aside. The Regional Level Committee shall now take a fresh decision in the matter strictly in accordance with the Scheme of Administration of the Institution.