1988 Supreme(Pat) 308
PATNA HIGH COURT
Nagendra Prasad Singh and Bhuvaneshwar Prasad JJ.
Managing Committee Of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Primary Teachers Education College
Versus
State Of Bihar
Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 6387 of 1988 ;
Decided On : AUGUST 30, 1988
An unrecognised institution cannot be allowed to appear at the examination to be held by the Bihar School Examination Board.
Headnote:
MINORITY INSTITUTION - RECOGNITION - ACT-SECTION REFERRED : BIHAR NON-GOVERNMENT PHYSICAL TRAINING COLLEGES AND NON-GOVERNMENT TEACHERS TRAINING COLLEGES AND NON-GOVERNMENT PRIMARY TEACHERS EDUCATION COLLEGE (CONTROL AND REGULATION) ACT, 1982 - SUMMARY : Court held that an unrecognised institution cannot be allowed to appear at the examination to be held by the Bihar School Examination Board. The court directed the petitioner to approach the authorities for grant of recognition and satisfy the authorities about the fulfilment of the conditions specified under the relevant Act, rules and regulations prescribed for grant of recognition of the petitioners institution as a minority institution.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioner, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Primary Teachers Education College, filed a writ application seeking a direction to the respondent-State to recognise it as a minority institution and allow its students to appear at the examination to be held by the Bihar School Examination Board.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that the petitioner-institution, not being a recognised minority institution, cannot be allowed to appear at the examination to be held by the Bihar School Examination Board. The court also directed the petitioner to approach the authorities for grant of recognition and satisfy the authorities about the fulfilment of the conditions specified under the relevant Act, rules and regulations prescribed for grant of recognition of the petitioners institution as a minority institution.
Issues: Whether an unrecognised institution can be allowed to appear at the examination to be held by the Bihar School Examination Board.
Ratio Decidendi: The court relied on the judgments of the Supreme Court in A.P. Christians Medical Educational Society V/s. Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1986 SC 1490 and Nageshwaramma V/s. State of A.P., AIR 1986 SC 1188, which held that any direction to allow the students of an unrecognised institution to appear at the examination would be in clear transgression of the provisions of the University Act and the Regulations of the University.
Final Decision: The court dismissed the writ application and directed the petitioner to approach the authorities for grant of recognition and satisfy the authorities about the fulfilment of the conditions specified under the relevant Act, rules and regulations prescribed for grant of recognition of the petitioners institution as a minority institution.
1. This writ application has been filed on behalf of the petitioner for a direction to the respondent-State to recognise the petitioner-institution, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Primary Teachers Education College, Bara Chakia, District East Champaran, as minority institution and, in the meantime, to allow the students who have been admitted in the said College, to appear at the examination to be held by the Bihar School Examination Board.
2. It is an admitted position that in view of the Bihar Non-Government Physical Training Colleges and Non-Government Teachers Training Colleges and Non-Government Primary Teachers Education College (Control and Regulation) Act, 1982, a Teachers Training College cannot be established without prior permission of the State Government. According to the petitioner as the College is a minority institution, any such statutory bar shall not be applicable to College in question. The institution aforesaid has not yet been recognised by the State Government as a minority institution is not in dispute. The regulation framed by the Bihar School Examination Board prescribes that the students of a recognised institution can only appear at its examination. As such if any direction is given to thy Board at this stage to allow the students of the petitioner-institution to appear at the examination, it will amount to issuing direction to the Board to violate its own regulation. This aspect of the matter has been examined by the Supreme Court in the case of A.P. Christians Medical Educational Society V/s. Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1986 SC 1490 (at pp. 1496-97). It was observed as follows : -
"Shri K.K. Venugopal, learned counsel for the students who have been admitted into the MBBS course of this institution, pleaded that the interests of the students should not be sacrificed because of the conduct or folly of the management and that they should be permitted to appear at the University examination notwithstanding the circumstance that permission and affiliation had not been granted to the institution. He invited our attention to the circumstance that students of the Medical College established by the Daru Salam Educational Trust were permitted to appear at the examination notwithstanding the fact that affiliation had not by then been granted by the University. Shri Venugopal suggested that we might issue appropriate directions to the University to protect the interests of the students. We do not think that we can possibly accede to the request made by Shri Venugopal on behalf of the students. Any direction of the nature sought by Shri Venugupal would be in clear transgression of the provisions of the University Act and the Regulations of the University. We cannot by our fiat direct the University to disobey the statute to which it owes its existence and the regulations made by the University itself. We cannot imagine anything more destructive of the rule of law than a direction by the court to disobey the laws."
Similarly, in the case of Nageshwaramma V/s. State of A.P., AIR 1986 SC 1188, the prayer for direction to allow the students of an unrecognised institution to appear at the examination was rejected by the Supreme Court saying that (at p. 1191) :
"If by a fiat of the Court we direct the Government to permit them to appear at the examination we will practically be encouraging and condoning the establishment of unauthorised institutions. It is not appropriate that the jurisdiction of the Court either under Art.32 of the Constitution or Art.226 should be frittered away for such a purpose. The Teachers Training Institutes are meant to teach children of impressionable age and we cannot let loose on the innocent and unwary children, teachers who have not received proper and adequate training. True they will be required to pass the examination but that may not be enough. Training for a certain minimum period in a properly organised and equipped Training Institute is probably essential before a teacher may