Committee of Management, Panchayat Raj Inter College and anr. Vs. State of U.P. and ors. - Court Judgment

Excerpt:
- land acquisition act, 1894 [c.a. no. 1/1894]. section 4; [sushil harkauli, s.k. singh & krishna murari, jj] acquisition of land held, court cannot issue a writ of mandamus directing the state authorities to acquire a particular land. land acquisition is not purely ministerial act to be performed by executive no direction in nature of mandamus whether interim or final can be issued by court under article 226 necessarily to acquire particular land in public interest. land acquisition is not a purely ministerial act to be performed by the executive and therefore, no mandamus can be issued by the court in exercise of its power under article 226 of the constitution, whether suo motu or otherwise, whether in public interest litigation or otherwise directing acquisition of land under the provisions of land acquisition act, 1894. it would, however, be open to the court in exercise of that power to invite the attention of the executive to any public purpose and the need for land for meeting that public purpose and to require the executive to take a decision, even a reasoned decision, with regard to the same in accordance with the statutory provisions, perhaps even within a reasonable time frame. however, the power of the court under article 226 must necessarily stop at that. thereafter, if the decision taken by the executive is capable of challenge and, there exist appropriate legal grounds for such challenge, it may also be open to the court to quash the decision and to require reconsideration. but no direction in the nature of mandamus whether interim or final can be issued by the court under article 226 to the executive to necessarily acquire a particular area of a particular piece of land for a particular public purpose. section 4; compulsory acquisition of land powers of state government held, renewal of lease in favour of petitioners would not take away power of state government of compulsory acquisition of land. renewal of lease would at best be taken into consideration for determining quantum of compensation. - the provisions of the said act as well as those of u. all the papers for recognition of the aforesaid elections, were transmitted through the office of the district inspector of schools for being placed before the regional level committee, constituted under the government order dated 19th december, 2000. the regional level committee, for the reasons best known to it, has not considered the legality or otherwise of the aforesaid elections. 13. in view of the aforesaid, it is directed that the regional level committee shall decide the legality or otherwise of the elections set up by the petitioner as well as the objection filed by the applicant caveator, if any, preferably within one month from the date of certified copy of this order is filed before the regional level committee, of which the joint director of education is the chairman.arun tandon, j.1. heard sri prabhakar awasthi on behalf of the petitioner, learned standing counsel on behalf of respondent nos. 1 to 5 and sri v.k. dixit on the behalf of the caveator.2. panchayat raj inter college, bada gaon, shahjahanpur is an added and recognized institution under the provisions of the intermediate education act. the provisions of the said act as well as those of u.p. high schools and intermediate colleges (teachers and other employees) (payment of salary) act, 1971 are fully applicable to the teachers and employees of the said institution. the institution is run and managed in accordance with the approved scheme of administration.3. it is not in dispute that last recognized elections of the committee of management had taken place on 26th february, 2001. the said elections were duly recognized by the educational authorities vide order dated 8th march, 2001 under clause 8 of the scheme of administration, the term of the elected committee of management has been provided as 3 years with a grace period of one month and after expiry of the said period of the committee of management becomes time bared automatically and a prabandh sanchalak has to be appointed for the purposes of getting a fresh election held and if elections have already taken place then to handover the charge to duly recognized committee of management.4. on behalf of the petitioner it is contended that in the last elections of the committee of management, which were held on 26th february, 2001, petitioner rajendra prasad dixit was elected as the manager. the process for holding fresh election of the committee of management were initiated prior to the expiry of the prescribed term of three years one month. the said elections were completed on 30th march, 2004 strictly in accordance with the provisions of the approved scheme of administration. all the papers for recognition of the aforesaid elections, were transmitted through the office of the district inspector of schools for being placed before the regional level committee, constituted under the government order dated 19th december, 2000. the regional level committee, for the reasons best known to it, has not considered the legality or otherwise of the aforesaid elections.5. according to petitioner, on one hand the aforesaid regional level committee has not considered the papers submitted by the committee of management in respect of the afresh elections, despite the same having been transmitted through the office of the district inspector of schools, as it apparent from the letter dated 5th may, 2004 (annexure-11 to writ petition) on the other hand the district inspector of schools has now passed an order directing single operation of the account under section 5 of the u.p. high schools and intermediate colleges (teachers and other employees) (payment of salary) act, 1971 solely on the ground that elections pleaded by the parties have yet not been recognized and dispute in that regard have been referred to the regional office. another to petitioner, the respondents cannot be permitted to take benefit of their own wrong. it is further submitted that the order dated 4th october, 2004 has been passed without notice or opportunity of hearing to the petitioner in violation of the principles of natural justice. there has been no default on the part of the management inasmuch as the salary bill of the month of september, 2004 has already been submitted by the petitioner manager and payment whereof has been made through the office of the district inspector of schools. in such circumstances, it is contended that provisions of section 5 second proviso are not attracted so as to justify the order of single operation.6. so far as the contention raised on behalf of the petitioner for quashing the order of single operation of account is concerned, it may be noticed that there is no denial of the fact that the term of the earlier elected committee, of management, which was recognized by educational authorities, had expired on 26th march, 2004 under clause 9 of the scheme of administration, which is reads as follows :9- lnl;ksa dk dk;zdky&&inkf;/kdkfj;ksa rfkk lnl;ksa insu lnl;ksa ls fhkuu dk dk;zdky muds pqus tkusds fnukad ls rhu o'kz dk gksxk a fdurq izfrcu/k gs fd izr;ssd inkf/kdkjh dkdk;zdky muds mkjkf/kdkjh ds pqus tkus rd le>k tk;sxk a fdurq ;g vof/k ,dekg ls vf/kd dh ughaa gksxh a 7. the said committee of management became time barred under the provisions of the clause itself and, therefore, the petitioner cannot claim any right to continue the management of the institution thereafter.8. the elections set up by the petitioner dated 30th march, 2004 have yet not been recognized by the regional level committee as has been provided for under the government order dated 19th december, 2000. since the subsequent elections dated 30th march, 2004 have yet not been recognized by the regional level committee, the petitioner cannot claim any right to continue in office nor he is entitled to operate the bank account under the provisions of section 5 of the payment of salary act along with the district inspector of schools.9. it is true that the authorities should have by now considered the legality or illegality of the elections set up by the petitioner, yet there is no recognized management of the college to operate the bank account as is contemplated under section 5 of the payment of salary act specifically when the subsequent elections have not yet been granted approval by the competent authority.10. the plea of violation of principle of natural justice is not of uniform application. it is settled law that all orders passed in violation of the principle or natural justice need not necessarily be set aside and exceptions to the aforesaid rule of violation of principles of natural justice have been enumerated by the hon'ble supreme court itself in the judgment reported in air 1966 sc 828, gadde venkateshwar rao v. government of andhra pradesh and ors.; jt 1999 (5) sc 114, m.c. mehta v. union of india and ors.; jt 2000 (9) sc 245, delhi administration v. gurdip singh uban and ors. one of the exception is that if not other view is possible, the denial of opportunity, of hearing shall not vitiate the order. since in the present case it is not in dispute that there is no recognized management in the institution as of date, the order passed by the district inspector of schools cannot be questioned on the ground of violation of the principles of natural justice as no other view is possible in the fact of the case. so for as the applicability of the second proviso to section 5 is concerned, suffice is to pointed out that difficulty in payment of salary by joint operation arised automatically when there is no recognized management in the institution and in view of the section 5 second proviso, the applicability of section 5(1) itself becomes doubtful for the purposes of operation of account by joint operation.11. in such circumstances, there being no representative of recognized management to operate the bank account with the nominee of the district inspector of schools, it is necessary that accounts be operated by single operation. in these circumstances, the order of the district inspector of schools cannot be said to be illegal in any manner. the relief prayed for by the petitioner, as such, cannot be granted.12. however, this court cannot lose sight of the fact that elections for constituting the committee of management had already been conducted by out going committee of management as early on 30th march, 2004 and relevant papers for recognition have already been transmitted through the office of the district inspector of schools to regional level committee. the regional level committee should have by now decided the legality or otherwise of the said elections. the delay on the part of the regional level committee is wholly unjustified.13. in view of the aforesaid, it is directed that the regional level committee shall decide the legality or otherwise of the elections set up by the petitioner as well as the objection filed by the applicant caveator, if any, preferably within one month from the date of certified copy of this order is filed before the regional level committee, of which the joint director of education is the chairman. the regional level committee shall afford opportunity of hearing to the parties concerned and shall permit exchange, of documents before passing reasoned speaking order. it is further directed that if the ejections of the committee of management are recognized by the regional level committee, the order of single operation shall be withdrawn immediately thereafter.14. with these observations, writ petition stands disposed of.