Point of Law: Granting admission on the basis of recommendations alone, is certainly arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

JUDGMENT :

C.S.Sudha, J.

What is the locus standi of a beneficiary to a privilege granted to a functionary of the State, to challenge the withdrawal of the privilege by the Government or the very same authority which granted it, when the functionary on whom the privilege was conferred, has no grievance ? Can the beneficiary be said to have a legitimate expectation on invoking the privilege granted and claim it as a matter of right ?

2. These writ appeals are against the common judgment dated 09/06/2022 in W.P.(C)Nos.15520/2022 and 15261/2022 respectively. The appellants in both the appeals are respondents 1 to 3 respectively in the writ petitions and the respondents herein, the petitioners in the writ petitions. Parties in these appeals and the documents will be referred to as described in the writ petitions.

3. W.P.(C)No.15520/2022 was filed by the father, on behalf of his minor child who sought admission in Class-II of the respondents' School for the academic year 2022-2023. It is alleged that on the basis of the assurance given by the respondents that the petitioner would be admitted in the School of the respondents, she had applied for Transfer Certificate from the School where she was studying and submitted the same along with the application for admission submitted to the respondents. According to the petitioner, when Ext.P1 application along with Ext.P2 T.C. and connected records were submitted, the respondents confirmed her admission by allotting a unique ID number to her. Pursuant to the same, the school uniform, text books, and other required items for studying in the Kendriya Vidyalaya as per the instructions of the respondents were purchased. However when the petitioner tried to remit the school fees on 29/04/2022, i.e., a day before the last date on 30/04/2022, the payment could not be effected as the payment link of the fee portal was blocked by the respondents. When the petitioner contacted the respondents seeking help for the remittance of the school fees, she was informed by the latter that the admission has been cancelled by the school authorities on the basis of some Government order, the details of which they refused to disclose. The action of the respondents in rejecting the admission which had already been given and confirmed by creating a unique ID, is totally unreasonable, unjust and an irreparable loss to the petitioner. The petitioner had acted on the instructions of the respondents and had taken TC from the erstwhile school and complied with all the formalities as per the directions of the respondents. The act of the respondents in cancelling the admission at the fag end of the admission procedure, without prior notice and also without assigning any reasons whatsoever, is totally unjustified. The petitioner had sent a notice on 29/04/2022 through e-mail to the respondents requesting permission to remit the school fees before 30/04/2022. However, the respondents neither heeded nor responded to the request. Hence, the writ petition.

4. A detailed counter affidavit has been filed by respondents 1 to 3. In the counter affidavit it is contended as follows -The 1st respondent Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) is an autonomous organization registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and fully financed by the Ministry of Education, Government of India (GoI) with the object of catering to the educational needs of children of transferable Central Government employees including defence personnel by providing a common programme of education, to pursue excellence and set the pace in the field of school education, to initiate and promote innovations and experimentation in the field of education in collaboration with other bodies like CBSE, NCERT and allied bodies and to promote National integration. The Chairman of the KVS is the Union Minister of Education, GoI. The KVS is headed by the Commissioner, who is the Chief Executive of the Sangathan to implement the policies approved by the Board of Governors of