Elections to the Committee of Management must comply with the Scheme of Administration to be valid; procedures and member admissions must adhere to prescribed protocols to ensure lawful election outcomes.

JUDGMENT

HON'BLE SAURABH SHYAM SHAMSHERY, J.

1. Present writ petition is filed by Committee of Management of Nawab Singh Chauhan Gramodaya Inter College, Aligarh through its Manager (Smt. Niharika Chauhan) whereas respondent-4 (Ravindra Singh Chauhan) has also claimed that he was the elected Manager of said Committee of Management.

2. Present case is arising out of a direction passed by this Court in Writ C No. 42499/2023 decided along with Writ C No. 12426/2022 filed by petitioners herein vide a judgment dated 16.07.2024 wherein following observations and directions were passed :-

“The outcome of the aforesaid discussion is that elections to a Committee of Management of an institution and its office- bearers are to be held in accordance with the Scheme of Administration. Any transgression from the scheme prescribed in the Scheme of Administration would invalidate the elections and any elections held according to the provisions of the Scheme of Administration cannot be rejected by the DIOS or the Regional Level Committee on the ground that the elections were not in accordance with the Government Order dated 21.11.2008. Under Section 16-A(7) of the Act, 1921, the educational authorities “the District Inspector of Schools, the Regional Level Committee, the Joint Director or any other authority” can only look into the question as to whether the elections set up by the concerned party was in accordance with the Scheme of Administration. The educational authorities while deciding any dispute regarding rival claims set up by the parties under Section 16- A(7) cannot go beyond the provisions of the Scheme of Administration. Resultantly, where the Scheme of Administration of the institution stipulates a general body of the institution separate and different from the general body of the parent society, i.e., the society which runs the institution, and the general body of the society is not the electoral College for electing the Committee of Management and the office bearers of the institution, the elections cannot be invalidated on the ground that the elections were held on a list which was not registered under Section 4-B of the Act, 1860.

In the present case, the Scheme of Administration of the College was approved by the Regional Joint Director of Education, Agra. It is not the case of the respondents that any action was taken or any notice was issued to the College by the Director under Section 16-B or Section 16-CCC to include in the Scheme of Administration of the College the provisions of the Government Order dated 21.11.2008. The provisions stipulated in the Government Order dated 21.11.2008 were not incorporated in the Scheme of Administration of the College. There is nothing on record in the present case to show that any proposal was made by the Director or any other authority asking the College to amend its Scheme of Administration in accordance with the provisions stipulated in the Government Order dated 21.11.2008.

The Scheme of Administration of the College provides for a general body of the College separate and different from the general body of the Society. There is no provision either in the Scheme of Administration of the College or in the bye-laws of the Society providing that members of the general body of the Society shall automatically also be members of the general body of the College or that the general body of the Society shall also be the general body of the College. The Scheme of Administration of the College provides that any person desirous of being member of the general body of the College shall deposit the requisite fees, either by cheque or bank draft issued in the name of the College, along with an application recommended by any member of the general body of the College and submit the application before the Treasurer of the College. The application shall be placed before the Manager who shall in turn place the same before the Committee of Management and in case, the Committee of Management refuses to enroll t