JUDGMENT :

I.P. MUKERJI, J.

1. In 1992 the villagers in or around the area covered by P.S. Joypur in the district Howrah decided to set up a junior high school which would be named Shibgachia Junior High School, having Classes V and VI. The person behind this mission was one Dr. Durgapada Patnayak. An organizing committee was formed in which Dr. Patnayak was elected as Secretary. Thereafter, both teaching and non-teaching staff of the school were recruited. The school started functioning on 2nd May, 1992 from a rented house. On 2nd May, 1996, one Gandhi Charan Deria gifted a plot of land to the school. It also received donations to run it.

2. After the school became functional, on 31st May, 1994 the Committee applied for its recommendation as a junior high school (co-educational) to the Director of School Education, a copy of which was forwarded to the Secretary, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.

3. The Managing Committee on 10th June, 1994 took a resolution to upgrade the school to Class IX and X.

4. On the date of presentation of the writ application, the school had thirteen assistant teachers, one clerk, one matron and two class four staff. It is housed in a two storied building having ten rooms. From the donation received by it, it has opened an account with term deposit with Allahabad Bank, Jhikira branch. The name of the school was changed from Shibgachia Junior High School to Shibgachia Dr. Tinkari Pattanayak Siksha Niketan.

5. After several rounds of litigation, orders passed therein and contempt proceedings, inspection of the school by the district level inspection team was initiated.

6. By a notification dated 19th October, 2013, the Secretary, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education communicated the recommendation of the Board to the state government for upgradation of the junior high school to Class X high school without any kind of financial aid.

7. It appears that on 24th April, 2013 in W.P. No. 16607 (W) of 2004 in WPCRC No. 44 of 2013, Sri Murari Mohan Khan and Others vs. State of West Bengal and Others, this court directed the Board to render a decision whether financial aid should be granted to the school. By a decision dated 22nd October, 2013 it disposed of the matter by stating that it was empowered to grant recognition of schools on the recommendation of the School Education Department under the bye-laws 2007 but had no power to recommend or grant financial aid to an institution.

8. The Board should have stopped at that. It went on to rule that the petitioner’s prayer for financial assistance was rejected.

9. This decision of the Board was challenged in the instant writ application.

10. The respondent state affirmed an affidavit-in-opposition on 10th March, 2021. It filed it further to the leave granted by a division bench of this court on 3rd February, 2021.

11. It made the following statements in the said affidavit:

(a) Under Section 6 of the Right of Children to free and compulsory Education Act, 2009, the appropriate government and local authority are bound to establish schools. In the neighbourhood of the said school there are three aided primary schools and three aided secondary schools in which the local children can get satisfactory education.

(b) Section 2(n)(4) read with Section 3 of the said Act provides that unaided schools recognized but without any financial aid are obliged to provide free education to children from the age of six years to fourteen years of age.

(c) The said school has not provided any information to the government with regard to the minimum qualification possessed by its teachers as required under the said Act.

(d) Under Section 6 of the West Bengal Schools (Control of Expenditure) Act, 2005, an unaided school is not entitled to financial aid, as a matter of right.

(e) No documents have been produced to show that the unaided school was set up after taking approval from the government with regard to its constitution.

12. By a judgment and order dated 8th July, 2019 the writ applicati