Bombay High Court
Let Indiraji Gandhi Vimukta Va ... vs The State Of Maharashtra And ... on 21 June, 2016
Bench: S.S. Shinde
3583.16WP
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
WRIT PETITION NO. 3583 OF 2016
Let Indiraji Gandhi Vimukta
Va Bhatkaya Jamati Bahuudheshiya
Shikshan Prasarak Mandal,
Kaudgaon, Tq. Paranda,
Dist. Osmanabad ig
Through Secretary
Sou. Kalinda W/o Ashok Padule
Age : 55 years, Occ : Social Work & H.H.
R/o Kaudgaon, Tq. Paranda,
Dist. Osmanabad.
..PETITIONER
-VERSUS-
1. The State of Maharashtra
Through its Secretary in the
department of Education (Sec),
Mantralaya, Mumbai.
2. The Director of Education,
Secondary and Higher Secondary,
Maharashtra State, Pune.
3. The Education Officer (Secondary),
Zilla Parishad, Osmanabad.
..RESPONDENTS
...
Advocate for Petitioners : Mr. Talekar S.B.
AGP for Respondent/State : Mr. V.S. Badakh
...
CORAM : S.S. SHINDE &
SANGITRAO S. PATIL, JJ.
Dated: June 21, 2016
3583.16WP
ORAL JUDGMENT (PER S.S. SHINDE, J) :-
The learned A.G.P. appearing for the
Respondent/State has tendered across the Bar
the affidavit in reply. The same is taken on
record.
2. Rule. Rule made returnable
forthwith. Heard finally with the consent of
the learned counsel appearing for the
parties.
3. This Petition is filed with the
following prayers :-
"B) By issuing writ of certiorari
or any other writ in the like
nature the order / decision dated
17th March 2016 taken by Dy.
Secretary Maharashtra State bearing
School Education and Sports
Division, Mantralaya, Mumbai-32 may
kindly be quashed and set aside.
C) By issuing writ of Mandamus or
any other writ in the like nature
the respondent authorities may
3583.16WP
kindly be directed to issue letter
of intent to start Marathi Medium
High School at village Kaudgaon,
Tq. Paranda, Dist. Osmanabad in
favour of petitioner Sanstha as
early as possible preferably before
June, 2016."
4. It is the case of the petitioner
that Respondent No.1 published the Government
Resolutions dated 5th December, 2012 and 25th
November, 2013, in respect of giving
permission to open the Marathi Medium Private
High School, on unaided basis in rural area
of the State of Maharashtra. The eligibility
criteria and procedure for sanction/
permission is mentioned in the said
Government Resolutions. Pursuant to the
Government Resolutions dated 5th December,
2012 and 25th November, 2013, Respondent No.1
vide its decisions dated 26.04.2013,
07.02.2014 and 17.05.2014 declared the names
of 78 villages in the State of Maharashtra,
which are included in the Master Plan, for
grant of permission to unaided Marathi Medium
High Schools. It is the case of the
petitioner that as the petitioner Sanstha
fulfils each and every criteria mentioned in
3583.16WP
the Government Resolutions dated 5th December,
2012 and 25th November, 2013, it submitted On-
line Application/Letter Of Intent for village
Kaudgaon, Tq. Paranda, Dist. Osmanabad. The
On-line registration number of Letter Of
Intent of the petitioner - Sanstha is
App9000050131300000001. The petitioner
approached Respondent No.3 on 4th September,
2014 for submitting the hard copy of the
proposal, at that time, the petitioner came
to know that the Respondent authorities did
not take decision for a long time. Therefore,
the petitioner filed Writ Petition No. 3296
of 2015 seeking direction to the Respondent
Authorities to decide the proposal of the
petitioner for opening High School in village
Kaudgaon, which is a remote place in Paranda
taluka.
5. It appears that the Division Bench
of this Court on 10th June, 2015 directed the
State Government to consider the pending
proposal of the petitioner for starting
Marathi High School at village Kaudgaon on
unaided basis, on its own merits
expeditiously, and preferably, within four
weeks from the date of passing of the said
order.
3583.16WP
6. It appears that instead of deciding
the proposal of the petitioner on merits,
Respondent No.1 considered and rejected the
said proposal by assigning the following
reason :-
"IV. lu 2015&16 iklwu "ljy" iz.kkyh uO;kus lq:
dj.;kr vkyh vkgs- R;kr pkbZYM VªWfdaxph O;oLFkk vkgs-
R;kuqlkj izR;sd fo|kF;kZP;k f'k{k.kkoj 'kklukps y{k jkg.kkj
vkgs- 'kkGkckg; fo|kF;kZuk 'kks/kwu R;kauk ns[khy f'k{k.kkP;k
eq[; izokgkr vk.k.;kr ;s.kkj vkgs- v'kk eqykauk fu;fer
'kkGsr ?kky.;klkBh 'kkGk m?kMkoh ykxY;kl 'kklu 'kkGk
m?kM.;kl ijokuxh ns.kkj vkgs- vU;Fkk uohu 'kkGsph
vko';drk ukgh-"
7. It is not in dispute that the
village Kaudgaon, Tq. Paranda is already
included in the Master Plan prepared by
Respondent No.1. Therefore, the reason
assigned by Respondent No.1, while rejecting
the proposal of the petitioner by the
impugned communication, is unsustainable, in
as much as, the reason assigned by Respondent
No.1 is that in future the State Government
intends to prepare the fresh Master Plan, and
therefore, the proposal of the petitioner
cannot be considered and same will be
3583.16WP
considered as and when the fresh Master Plan
will be prepared. In fact the proposal of the
petitioner is already pending and the State
Government ought to have decided the same,
keeping in view the fact that the village
Kaudgaon is already included in the Master
Plan, and therefore, as per existing Master
Plan/policy of the State Government, the said
proposal deserves to be considered on its own
merits.
8. We have also perused the reply filed
by the Respondent/State. We cannot
countenance the reasons given in the said
reply. Upon perusal of the reasons assigned
in the impugned order and the averments made
in the affidavit in reply, we are of the
opinion that there is total non-application
of mind by Respondent No.1 to the directions
issued by this Court vide order dated 10 th
June, 2015, and also the fact that the
petitioner's proposal for village Kaudgaon,
which is already included in the Master Plan,
is to be considered as per the
existing/prevailing policy of the State
Government.
9. In that view of the matter, the
3583.16WP
Petition is allowed in terms of prayer clause
`B'. We direct Respondent No.1 to consider
the petitioner's proposal and decide the same
on its own merits within four weeks from
today. However, without raising the grounds
which are assigned in the impugned
communication, keeping in view the fact that
already the village Kaudgaon, Tq. Paranda is
included in the Master Plan and the
petitioner is seeking permission on unaided
basis.
10. The Petition is partly allowed and
same stands disposed of.
11. Rule is made absolute in the above
terms. No costs.
Sd/- Sd/-
(SANGITRAO S. PATIL, J.) (S.S. SHINDE, J.)
...
SGA
