Judgment:
Dipak Misra, J.
1. Regard being had to the similitude of grievance and the controversy raised, the writ petitions were heard analogously and are disposed of by a singular order. For the sake of clarity and convenience, the facts in W.P. No. 4895/09 are exposited herein.
2. The petitioner, Narmada Parwati Ganga College, Bhopal, was issued a letter by the Western Regional Committee of the National Council of Teachers Education (for short, 'the WRC') on 15/18-12-2006 15/18-12-2006 , Annexure-P/3, whereby the institution was intimated that it was found fit for grant of conditional recognition of D. Ed. Course with the intake capacity of 50 students. Thereafter, the WRC issued a letter on 23-8-2007 intimating the M.P. Board of Secondary Education, Bhopal that there is no need for renewal of the recognition as it would remain in force unless it is cancelled by the NCTE. The said letter has been brought on record as Annexure-P/4.
3. As pleaded, the respondent No. 2, Board of Secondary Education, M.P. Bhopal, granted affiliation to the petitioner -college for B. Ed. Course on 2th April, 270 for the academic session 2006-07 on certain terms and conditions. The said affiliation was renewed for the academic session 2007-08 on 29-2-2008. It was further renewed for the academic session 2008-09 by letter dated 30th October, 2008.
4. According to the petitioner-college, the Board has issued a set of instructions to the effect that the list of students who availed admission in the College for the academic session 2008-09 was to be submitted on or before 30th September, 2008 before the Divisional Office of the Board of Secondary Education. Later on, the date was extended to 1 -11 -2008. It is put forth that one Krishna Kumar Verma, clerk of the petitioner-college had gone to the office of the Board for submitting the list of candidates who had taken admission in the petitioner-College, but the concerned clerk of the Board orally refused to take the same on the ground that the Divisional Office of the Board had already sent all the lists to the Head Office. When he went to the office, he was informed that it was required to be submitted in the Divisional Office of the Board. Because of this confusion, the College eventually sent the list of admitted candidates by speed post on 4-11 -2008 to the Head Office of the Board at Bhopal. The Board on 17-11-2008 sent a communication to the petitioner to the effect that the list was not submitted as per the scheduled date, i.e., 1-11-2008 and the College was called upon to submit its explanation why the affiliation should not be cancelled. The College in its turn submitted explanation to the Board as per Annexure-P/l explaining its stand. Thereafter the Board informed the petitioner-College on 1-12-2008 that as the list of candidates had been sent after the scheduled date, the same could not be accepted by the Board. A representation was submitted by the College to the Board. Despite the same, the Board issued a letter on 27-1 -2009 for cancellation of affiliation of the petitioner-college for the academic session 2008-09 as per Annexure-P/13. A prayer was made by submitting an application for restoration of the affiliation but no fruitful result ensued. It is contended that similarly situated institutions have been given the benefit whereas the petitioner-college has been denied the same. In essence, it is urged that the Board has acted in an arbitrary, highhanded and discriminatory manner which plays fowl with Article 14 of the Constitution of India. It is contended that when the Board has extended the benefit to other educational institutions in the similar factual backdrop, there was no justification or warrant not to extend the same benefit to the petitioner-College. On this bedrock, prayer has been made to issue a mandamus commanding the Board to accept the list of admitted candidates of the D. Ed. Course for the academic session 2008-09 and restore the affiliation of the petitioner-college.
5. At this juncture, it is worth-noting that an application has been filed by 32 students to intervene in the writ petition contending, inter alia, that they are innocent students and they fulfill all the formalities and they should not suffer for the act of the Board. A reference has been made to certain interim orders passed by this Court in certain writ petitions.
6. A counter affidavit has been filed by the respondents No. 2 and 3, the Board and its functionary, contending, inter alia, that pursuant to the recognition by the NCTE, the Board had affiliated the petitioner-college for the academic session 2006-07 and thereafter for the academic session 2008-09. As per the instructions of the Board the institution was required to submit the final list of the admitted students on or before 30th October, 2008 which was extended to 1-11-2008. The institution was neither entitled to admit the students after 1-11-2008 nor could it submit the list of the admitted students beyond the specified date. As per the case of the petitioner, the list of admitted students was sent to the Board by Speed Post on 4-11-2008. The petitioner-institution had defaulted in the similar manner in the previous academic session, i.e., 2007-08. It is pleaded that for the academic session 2007-08, W. P. No. 6865/08 came to be filed by the students alleging that the institution deliberately withheld the examination forms of the students as a consequence of which they could not appear in the Second Year D. Ed. Examination. This Court had directed an enquiry to be conducted by the District Education Officer, Bhopal and subsequently by the Inspector General of Police with the help of the Superintendent of Police. A question was posed in the said case whether the students had attended the classes and, if so, what was the percentage of their attendance. The sphere of enquiry also related to whether the forms were deliberately not supplied or they were withheld by the institutions. It is set forth that regard being had to the conduct of the institution in the previous academic sessions, a prosecution has been launched and criminal investigation is on. It is put forth that the National P.G. College, Bhopal and Narmada Parwati Ganga College, Bhopal, both incidentally known as N. P.G. College, are being run by the same society in the same campus. A doubt is expressed whether the NCTE is aware of the same or not. It is set-forth that the institution had given admission to the students who are from outside the State of M.P. in the D. Ed. Course. The list of admitted students submitted by the petitioner is beyond the due date fixed by the Board. It is contended that in respect of the previous year as per the report, the students had not attended the classes and their forms were also withheld during the previous year. The same situation obtains for the current year but it can only be asserted after due enquiry into the matter. Justification has been given for rejection of the forms.
7. At this juncture, it is appropriate to refer to the order passed in W.P. No. 6865/08 (Neelam and Ors. v. Board of Secondary Education, M.P. and Ors.). In the said case, this Court had directed for investigation to be conducted.
8. After due scrutiny of the investigation report and upon hearing the learned Counsel for the parties, this Court has passed the following order:
10. On a perusal of the aforesaid report, it is luculent that the petitioners had not acquired the requisite percentage of attendance to appear in the examination. The same is so reflectable from the scrutiny of the records of the College. We are not concerned about other aspects of the report. The colossal complaint made by the petitioners is that the respondent No. 2 had collected the fees and informed the Board about the proper attendance of the students and hence, the respondent No. 2 is totally responsible for the situation in which the petitioners have landed. It has come to the notice of this Court that criminal prosecution has already been launched against the Principal at the Instance of the petitioners for various offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code on which we would not comment or express any opinion. But it can be said with certitude without any fear or contradiction that the petitioners did not possess the requisite percentage of attendance and, in fact, as the report would reveal, that they had not attended the classes and are, therefore, ineligible to appear in the examination and hence, they are not entitled to the relief as prayed for.
11. Before parting with the case we notice certain features in the case which are really disquietening and disturbing. All the students are from outside the State. There is no legal impediment on the part of the students to take admission in a college in Bhopal and prosecute their studies with sincerity. They are entitled in law to take admission, but a pregnant one, they cannot make an adroit effort to convert the system of education to a farce. They should have kept in mind that they were prosecuting D. Ed. Course which is a training imparted to students to teach students in schools. As it appears they have taken admission in the College and gone back to their respective places. They have made a cunning and crafty attempt to appear in the examination. The petitioners, as we are inclined to think, very well knew that they did not attend classes and, therefore, the question of their appearing in the examination did not arise. Despite the same, they had the impudence and insolence to prefer a litigation of the present nature. The fact of non-attendance is irrefragably within their special knowledge. Yet, impertinence and audacity is writ large. No institution which is involved in imparting cannot make mockery of the education system. Students who prosecute their studies cannot be allowed to make a burlesque of education.
12. The Apex Court in P.A. Inamdar and Ors. v. State of Maharashtra and Ors. : AIR 2005 SC 3226 while dealing with the basic concept of education has expressed the view as follows:
90. Education is 'continued growth of personality, steady development of character, and the qualitative improvement of life. A trained mind has the capacity to draw spiritual nourishment from every experience, be it defeat or victory, sorrow or joy. Education is training the mind and not stuffing the brain.' (See Eternal Values for A Changing Society, Vol. Ill Education for Human Excellence, published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, at p. 19)
91. We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet.' 'The end of all education, all training, should be man-making. The end and aim of all training is to make the man grow. The training by which the current and expression of will are brought under control and become fruitful is called education' (Swami Vivekanand as quoted in ibid, at p. 20)
92. Education, accepted as a useful activity, whether for charity or for profit, is an occupation. Nevertheless, it does not cease to be a service to the society. And even though an occupation, it cannot be equated to a trade or a business.
93. In short, education is national wealth essential for the nation's progress and prosperity.
13. Tested on the touchstone of the aforesaid guiding lasers we can only say that the petitioners have traumatized the system. The lesion is manifest and apparent. Ergo, we decry the adroit effort.
9. Regard being had to the aforesaid fact situation, this Court on 18-6-2009, after referring to the facts in issue and after referring to the order passed in W. P. No. 6865/ 2008, issued the following directions:
Regard being had to the totality of the circumstances, we would like the Director Public Instruction (School Education) to conduct an inquiry about the fact of date of admission and date of deposition of fee in respect of the students of this college and the interveners who have sought intervention in these petitions. The said authority shall inquire why the list was submitted belatedly by the college and further whether the students who are seeking relief for appearing in the examination either through college or through intervention had attended the classes and if so what is the percentage of attendance. That apart, it is open to the said authority to inquire into every ancillary aspect which he finds pertinent and relevant. We leave it to the discretion of the said authority so that the truth can be revealed. The inquiry shall be completed within a period of fortnight. The college as well as the students shall co-operate with the inquiry to be conducted with the DPI (School Education), as co-operation is the most imperative requisite to arrive at the truth in an inquiry of this nature.
It is hereby made clear that if eventually the writ petition succeeds, the Board shall conduct a special examination for the students subject to such conditions to be imposed by this Court.
Mr. Deepak Awasthi, learned Government Advocate undertakes to intimate the DPI (School Education) about the order passed today and forward the copies of the petition and other documents on record.
The Registrar (Judicial) is directed to hand over a copy of the order passed today by 19-6-2009.
Let the matter be listed for further hearing on 14-7-2009.
10. In pursuance of the aforesaid order, an enquiry has been conducted by the Director, Public Instructions (School Education) who has submitted his report in Hindi. The relevant portion of the said report on being translated into English reads as under:
In compliance of the decision dt. 19-6-2009 passed by Hon'ble High Court, facts averred by the petitioner before Hon'ble High Court were enquired into.
Records of the Institution were examined the state of affairs is as under:
Institution runs two colleges in Bhopal.
1.1: Narbada Parwati Ganga College, Bhopal, Bharat Scout and Guides Campus, Shyamla Hills, Bhopal.
1.2: National P.G. College, Bharat Scout and Guides Campus, Shyamla Hills, Bhopal.
2. List of 50 students admitted in D. Ed. 1st year 2008-09 in Narmada Parwati Ganga College, Bharat Scout and Guides Campus, Shyamla Hills, Bhopal, is alleged to have been forwarded to the Board of Secondary Education forms of 12 student amongst the 50 students admitted D. Ed. 1st year 2008-09 were forwarded to the Board of Secondary Education. Institution did not produce any record relating to the fees and attendance of 12 students.
3. List of 50 student admitted in D. Ed. 1st year during 2008-09 in National P.G. College Bhopal, Scouts and Guides Campus, Shyamla Hills, Bhopal. But no record relating to the Admission/Fees/Attendance of the said students was produced.
4. With regard to the list of students being enrolled in D. Ed. Course II year, 2008-09 in both the Colleges alleged to have been sent to the Board of Secondary Education, records like the Application Forms, Free-receipt; Attendance Register, etc. were produced by the institution during the enquiry. In the year of 2008-09 amongst these 50 students of each college 49 students took admission in National P.G. College and 47 students took admission in Narbada Parwati Ganga College.
5. On 6-7-2009 and during the enquiry on 10-7-2009 Director of the Institutions, Shri Sujeet Sharma, submitted written application before the Enquiry Officer, wherein he alleged the very facts as were mentioned in the writ filed before Hon'ble High Court. He also produced the copy of application dt. 20-6-2009 submitted before the Section H. O., P. Section Shyamla Hills, Bhopal wherein it is submitted that Board of Secondary Education has unnecessarily terminated/withdrawn application. For this reason, students snowed resentment and they were threatening to set the College on fire if examination would not be conducted till 22-6-2009.
Findings
It has been found from the perusal of the documents of the Institution that Board of Director of the Institution have failed to tender any solid proof with regard to submitting Admission List, the Division Office of the Board. Board of Secondary Education on fixed date 1-1-2008; therefore, reason of delay cannot be advanced. No documents were found available regarding the fee and attendance of the students admitted in D. Ed. Course 1st year 2008-09 in both the Colleges conducted by the Institution. Merely the application forms of 12 students of Narbada Parwati Ganga College, Bharat Scouts and Guides Campus, Shyamla Hills, Bhopal, were found available. Whereas in the National P.G. College, Bharat Scout and Guides Campus. Shyamla Hills, Bhopal, no document/record regarding the admission of any student was available. Records relating to the students studying in D. Ed. II year 2008-09 were found available. Details thereof are given under point-4.
11. The said report has been signed by the Assistant Directors and Director, Public Instructions.
12. If the enquiry report and the findings recorded by the agency that was directed to conduct an enquiry are appreciated with studied scrutiny it is perceptible that Narmada Parwati Ganga College had sent forms of 12 students from amongst 50 students admitted in D. Ed. Course in respect of year 2008-09 but no records were produced relating to fees and attendance of the said students. As far as National P.G. College is concerned the list shows that 50 students admitted in D. Ed. First Year in 2008-09 but no record relating to admission/fee/attendance was produced. The finding of the agency, as is perceivable, is to the effect that the Board of Directors of the Institutions have failed to tender any document with regard to submission of admission list before the Divisional Office of the Board. No document has been found available regarding fee and attendance of the students admitted in D. Ed. Course First Year 2008-09 in both the colleges run by the institution. Thus, it is clear as crystal that there is no document that the students have been admitted and attended classes in D. Ed. First Year. As far as D. Ed. Second Year is concerned the document had been sent to the Board of Secondary Education, applications forms, fee receipts, attendance registers of certain students. The perplexing factum is that the students who had not taken admission in the D. Ed. First Year or attended classes, how can the College admit the students in D. Ed. Second Year. The claim of the petitioners-colleges is that the students of the second year should have been permitted to appear in the examination and could not have been disallowed solely because the delay in submission of forms. The aforesaid stand and stance looks quite innocuous but on proper investigation it has converted into a mass of incurable lesion. It shows slur on the education. In this context, we refer with profit to a passage from Schooling, Sole Trustee, Lok Shikshana Trust v. C.I.T. : (1976) 1 SCC 254 : AIR 1976 SC 10 wherein while dealing with the conception of education their Lordships have observed thus:
Means the systematic instruction, schooling or training given to the young in preparation for the work of life. It also connotes the whole course of scholastic instruction which a person has received...what education connotes is the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind and character of students by formal schooling.
13. In P.A. Inamdar : AIR 2005 SC 3226 (supra) their Lordships have observed thus
Education, is an important input both for the growth of the society as well as for the individual. Properly planned educational input can contribute to increase in the Gross National Products, cultural richness, build positive attitude towards technology and increase efficiency and effectiveness of the governance. Education opens new horizons for an individual, provides new aspirations and develops new values. It strengthens competencies and develops commitment. Education generates in an individual a critical outlook on social and political realities and sharpness and ability to self-examination, self-monitoring and self-criticism.
14. In this regard, it would not be out of place to quote a few lines from 'Geetanjali' of Guru Dev Rabindra Nath Tagore which, we are disposed to think, is the ultimate culmination of an educated mind:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up Into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action -- Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my Country awake.
15. If the aforesaid passages are properly understood it can be said without any shadow of doubt that in a society where education is converted or metamorphosed to a farce, he social catastrophe is writ large duration silently and gradually brings discipline and progress in the society. It expands horizon of life with development and narrows the sense of pleasure. It also spirals humane qualities, both in the individual and the collective, in a society. It makes the members of the society able to explore their latent greatness and enables a student to have quantum jump in life. The society learns the power of autonomy; and the futuristic history of a cultural society gets imbued in the truest sense in the present lay society. The human conduct and belief not only imbibe with scientific temper, but a mind gels more maturity putting its foot slop on the path of social, cultural, economic and spiritual progress. It adds real meaning lo the life. But, the petitioners, as is manifest, have left no stone unturned to see that a concavity is created in the system of education. They have converted the educational institution into a sanctuary of errors. It is not permissible. The educational institutions which take the responsibility of imparting education cannot afford to act in this manner and slaughter the present generation for their own benefit. They should remember that the education is not a marketable commodity and they are the traders who can trade at their whim and fancy. Thus, the action taken by the Board against the petitioners-institutions cannot be found fault with. They have acted in fitness of things and their action is absolutely flawless.
16. The writ petitions being sans substratum stand dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.