The court affirmed that schools established by a community must be managed by duly constituted committees reflecting community involvement, rejecting claims of individual ownership.

JUDGMENT :

H.S. THANGKHIEW, J.

1. The writ petitioner in WP(C). No. 172 of 2021 is before this Court assailing an order dated 09-03-2021, whereby the new Managing Committee of Mawrapad L.P. School had been approved, by alleging that the same was without any basis and without holding a proper election or selection. A challenge has also been made to the non-approval of a Managing Committee constituted on 12-02-2020, with the petitioner as the President.

2. The writ petitioner in the above noted writ petition has asserted that though the Mawrapad L.P. School was established by the Dorbar Shnong of Mawrapad (respondent No. 7) in the year 1976, from 15-03-1980 onwards, the entire ownership and management of the said school had been handed over to the petitioner who thereafter, ran and managed the school for decades. As such, on this assertion, the writ petitioner has claimed rights in perpetuity over the said school. The respondent No. 7 on the other hand, had made a complaint before the State respondents on 10- 10-2019 that the writ petitioner had illegally converted the community school into a private school and prayed that necessary action be taken. In this backdrop, which became a tussle between the village Dorbar which maintained that the school belongs to the community, and the writ petitioner who asserted that the same had been handed over to him by the village itself since 1980, on the recognition of the Managing Committee constituted by the village by disregarding the claim of the writ petitioner, this writ petition has been filed.

3. In the second writ petition i.e. WP(C). No. 497 of 2021, the same had been preferred in the name of the Managing Committee of Mawrapad Upper Primary School with the writ petitioner in WP(C). No. 172 of 2021 as petitioner No. 2. In this writ petition, an order dated 10-12-2021 and letter dated 20-12-2021, issued by the Sub-Divisional School Education Officer, Shillong (respondent No. 3) whereby an interim Managing Committee has been put in place is under challenge. The grounds taken in this writ petition are similar to the earlier writ petition, only with the slight variance that the management and ownership of the school, had been handed over by the village to the writ petitioner No. 2 on 18-03-1991.

4. As both the above noted writ petitions stem from the claim to full ownership of the writ petitioner (Shri Strickly Syiemlieh) on the assertion that the schools had been handed over to him, and that only he can constitute or propose the respective Managing Committees, the same are being disposed of by this common judgment and order.

5. Before commencing to examine the matter on merits, it is worthwhile to note that the term of the Managing Committee in the L.P. School, the approval of which is under challenge has since expired. Added to this is the fact that the writ petitioner who is seeking to establish his rights over the schools and who also is named as a President in the proposed reconstitution of the Managing Committees has also superannuated. In the second writ petition, the ad-hoc arrangement of the management being under respondent No. 3 is under challenge, so in effect there are no duly constituted Committees in both the sections of the Schools i.e. L.P. and U.P. The only exercise perhaps that can be embarked upon by this Court is to look at the competing rights and claims of the parties as to who is the rightful body to assume management of the schools and to constitute a fresh Managing Committee. In this context, to get a clear picture, this Court by order dated 06-03-2024, on hearing the parties ordered for an inquiry to be conducted. For the purpose of easy referenc