ORDER

23.03.2022 Date :

Heard Mr. K.P. Pathak, learned senior counsel, assisted by Mr.

H.I. Choudhury, learned counsel for the applicant and Mr. A.R. Bhuyan, learned counsel for the opposite party.

2) The applicant herein is arrayed as respondent no. 5 in the writ petition. The said writ petition has been filed by the opposite party herein. Thus, for the sake of convenience and clarity, in this order the parties are arrayed as per their respective status in the writ petition.

3) This interlocutory application has been filed for vacating/ altering/ modifying the ex parte interim order dated 08.11.2021, passed by this Court in the connected writ petition. By the said interim order, the nomination of the respondent no. 5 as the President of M.C. Das College, Cachar was stayed till further order(s). However, it was clarified that the staying of nomination of the President shall not be construed that the entire constitution of the Governing Body has been stayed by the Court and it was further clarified that the Governing Body of the said college may function as per law through the other members, but without any participation of the respondent no.5, i.e. S.K.

Azad Laskar.

4) The learned senior counsel for respondent no. 5 has submitted that the order dated 08.11.2021 would reveal that this Court was prima facie satisfied with the projection made in the writ petition that by virtue of OM dated 18.08.2017 of the Principal Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Higher Education Department, the respondent no. 5, being enrolled as a member of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF for short), a political party had become ineligible to be appointed as the President of the Governing Body of the said M.C. Das College, Cachar and accordingly, an interim order as indicated herein before was passed. By referring to the documents annexed to this interlocutory application, the learned senior counsel for the respondent no. 5 has submitted that by forwarding the photocopy of his purported “primary membership form” (Annexure-6 to the writ petition), the respondent no.5 had asked for information vide letter dated 19.11.2021 from the General Secretary (Administration)/ Office Secretary –cum- In-charge of Central Committee, AIUDF if he was a member of the said party and whether the membership receipt is genuine and that in response, the Vice President of AIUDF vide reply dated 24.11.2021 had assigned reasons and stated that the membership form was not genuine and manipulated and that the said form was fake and manipulated.

5) It is submitted that now by filing affidavit-in- opposition in this interlocutory application, the petitioner has changed his stand and has now taken a plea that by attending AIUDF party meeting, and by becoming an election agent of Mr. Karim Uddin Barbhuiya, the AIUDF sponsored candidate in the last election from No. 10 Sonai LAC, the respondent no. 5 had become affiliated to AIUDF and therefore, he was a political person. It is submitted that because the respondent no. 5 was an advocate, the now altered stand of the petitioner is that the respondent no. 5 cannot be considered as eminent person from the field of education.

6) Per contra, the learned counsel for the petitioner has extensively referred to the OM dated 18.08.2017 and has submitted that in his affidavit-in-opposition to this interlocutory application, the petitioner had annexed photographs to show the respondent no. 5 sharing the dais with political functionaries of AIUDF and form the fact that in the Assam Assembly Elections held in 2021, the respondent no. 5 was appointed as political agent of the returned AIUDF candidate, it was established that the petitioner had an affiliation with AIUDF. The dictionary meaning of the word “affiliation” was referred to. By referring to document showing appointment of President of various Governing Body in the District of Cachar (Annexure-4 to the writ petition), it has been submitted that the except for the respondent no. 5 all others wer