JUDGMENT :

By the Court.-The Joint Director of Education, First Region, Meerut thought that when there are two or more rival Committees of Management, who claim to be validly elected to office, he could exercise his powers under Section 16-A(7) of the Uttar Pradesh Intermediate Education Act, 1921; not otherwise. He also seems to have thought that if there is a complainant assailing the validity of an elected management, he could go into its validity if there was a direction to that effect made by this Court. About the first part of the Joint Director's opinion, we find that he was wrong on facts and about the second part, he was in error about the law.

2. The facts in this case show that the last undisputed elections to the Committee of Management of National Inter College, Shikarpur, District Bulandshahr, the institution being governed by the Uttar Pradesh Intermediate Education Act, 1921 (for short, ''the Act'), were held on 29.10.2017. The Committee had a term of three years and one month. This term ended on 28.11.2020. The outgoing Committee of Management say that they called a meeting of the General Body to hold the next elections, scheduled for 14.7.2020 through a notice dated 4.7.2020. The said meeting and the contemplated elections could not be held on the said date due to lack of quorum. The meeting was adjourned. This event appears to have prompted 19 Members of the General Body of the Society to seek permission of the District Inspector of Schools to hold a meeting of the General Body to conduct the next elections. This permission was sought by 19 Members of the General Body and they stated that they were more than 1/10th of the General Body Membership. The District Inspector of Schools put the 19 applicants to notice alone and passed an order dated 14.8.2020, scheduling an election meeting for 31.8.2020. The election meeting was convened on 16.10.2020, wherein, 39 out of 110 Members of the General Body (of the Society) participated. The result of these elections was approved and recognized by the District Inspector of Schools vide order dated 1.10.2020.

3. There was a parallel election convened by Members of the General Body, where the election programme was circulated on 25.8.2020 and the elections were held on 8.10.2020. These proceedings were submitted for approval and recognition to the District Inspector of Schools as well.

4. The Committee of Management, whose elections were first permitted and then recognized by the District Inspector of Schools vide orders dated 14.8.2020 and 1.10.2020, respectively, is represented by its Manager, Afaq Ahmad. The rival Committee of Management, who claims to have held elections on 8.10.2020, is represented by Firoz Khan, the Manager shown to be elected in elections. The faction of the management led by Afaq Ahmad are the appellant to this appeal, whereas the faction represented and led by Firoz Khan are the writ petitioner-respondents, who are 65 in number, excluding the jural presence of the Committee of Management represented by Firoz Khan.

5. The District Inspector of Schools did not pass any order regarding the elections claimed by the Committee of Management led by Firoz Khan, apparently so, as he had already passed an order on October 1, 2020, recognizing the management led by Afaq Ahmad. The petitioner-respondents to this appeal approached the Joint Director of Education, invoking his powers under Section 16-A(7) of the Act. They apparently asserted that it was a case where there was a dispute with respect to the management of the institution and it was he who had to decide that dispute; else it was the Regional Level Committee, which would exercise the powers of the Joint Director of Education under the Statute, with the Joint Director of Education as its head, in terms of the Government Order dated 20.10.2008, that could decide a dispute about the management.

6. The Joint Director of Education by his order dated 31.12.2020 neither decided the dispute himself nor placed i