Kerala High Court
The President vs State Of Kerala on 17 September, 2021
WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021 1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V
FRIDAY, THE 17TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2021 / 26TH BHADRA, 1943
WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021
PETITIONER:
THE PRESIDENT,
ST. THOMAS EDUCATIONAL AND CHARITABLE TRUST, ST.
THOMAS CHURCH, MALAYATTOOR, FUNCTIONING AS THE
MANAGER, ST. THOMAS HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL,
MALAYATTOOR, ERNAKULAM-683 587.
BY ADVS.
N.SATHEESH
K.JANARDHANA SHENOY
MARTIN CHACKO
S.RAKHEE
PRIYA CAROL
RESPONDENTS:
1 STATE OF KERALA,
REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL
EDUCATION, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 001.
2 THE DIRECTOR OF GENERAL EDUCATION,
DIRECTORATE OF GENERAL EDUCATION, JAGATHY,
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 014.
3 THE REGIONAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR,
HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION, ERNAKULAM, EDAPPALLY-682
024.
4 THE DIRECTOR,
DIRECTORATE OF MINORITY WELFARE, GOVERNMENT OF
KERALA,
4TH FLOOR, VIKAS BHAVAN,
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 033.
SRI BIJOY CHANDRAN SR GOVERNMENT PLEADER
THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION
ON 17.09.2021, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE
FOLLOWING:
WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021 2
JUDGMENT
St. Thomas Higher Secondary School is a school run by the
St.Thomas Educational and Charitable Trust. The petitioner herein is the
President of the Trust and the Manager of the school. The institution is
owned by the Roman Catholic School Minority Community and is under
the management of the Roman Catholic St. Thomas Church, Malayatoor.
The petitioner asserts that the school is an educational institution
established and administered by the Christian Religious community and
hence, entitled to protection under Article 30(1) of the Constitution of
India.
2. The grievance of the petitioner in this writ petition concerns
the non-issuance of the minority certificate, the production of which is a
condition precedent to make admissions to the seats earmarked as
community quota in the school.
3. The petitioner states that on 22.11.2019, the petitioner had
submitted Ext.P4 application before the 1st respondent seeking issuance
of minority status certificate. The said request was responded with Ext.P5
communication wherein it is stated that the Government has appointed
the 4th respondent as the competent authority under Section 10 of the
National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) Act,
2004 to decide on the application regarding issuance of No Objection
Certificate for the establishment of educational institutions by minorities.
It is also stated that the Secretary General, Education Department is the
competent authority under Section 12(B) of NCMEI Act to decide on the
application regarding minority status of educational institutions.
4. In the light of Ext.P5, the petitioner is stated to have filed an
application for issuance of NOC. Since no action was taken, the petitioner
approached this Court and filed W.P.(C) No.16792/2020 seeking
directions. By Ext.P6 judgment dated 19.8.2020, the petitioner herein
was permitted to admit students to the 20% community quota in the
higher secondary school for the academic year 2020-2021 and directions
were issued to open the web portal to facilitate the admission process.
Further direction was issued to the 4th respondent to consider Ext.P4
application submitted by the petitioner and take a decision within three
months. The petitioner contends that the 4th respondent considered the
request made by the petitioner and issued Ext.P7 No objection certificate
in granting minority status to the St. Thomas Higher Secondary School.
Armed with Ext.P7, the petitioner is stated to have approached the 1st
respondent and filed Ext.P8 application seeking issuance of minority
certificate. It is contended that the 1st respondent has not taken any
action to date. The explanation offered is that the 1st respondent has not
established the administrative mechanism to process the applications.
5. The petitioner contends that the admission procedure for the
academic year 2021-2022 has commenced and the submission of online
applications to community quota seats will start on 20.9.2021. In
response to the application submitted by the petitioner, Ext.P9 verification
report has been issued wherein it is stated that the admission to
community quota seats will be based on the submission of the minority
certificate. According to the petitioner, unless the certificate sought for
by the petitioner is submitted, they will not be permitted to make
admissions to the community quota. It is contended that the petitioner
has been enjoying the minority status and they have been admitting
students in the minority quota from the very inception of the school. They
are also stated to have remitted fees in the Government treasury for
admitting the students to the minority quota as is evident from Ext.P10.
It is owing to the delay on the part of the respondents in expeditiously
considering the application submitted by the petitioner that this stalemate
has occurred. It is in the afore circumstances that the petitioner is before
this Court seeking directions to the respondents 1 and 2 to permit the
petitioner to make admission to 20% seats in the Higher Secondary
Section of St.Thomas Higher Secondary school for the seats earmarked
towards community quota and for further directions.
6. I have heard Shri. N. Satheesh, the learned counsel for the
petitioner and Smt. Nisha Bose, the learned Senior Government Pleader
appearing for the respondents.
7. The records reveal that the petitioner has been enjoying
minority status from the year 2000 onwards and till last year they were
being permitted to make admissions in the minority quota, as per the
Rules. This aspect of the matter has been considered by this Court while
passing Ext.P6 judgment. It also appears that when the condition for the
production of minority status certificate was imposed, the petitioner had
approached this Court and had filed W.P.(C) No.14871 of 2019 and during
the pendency of the writ petition, the respondents had permitted the
petitioner to make admissions under the community quota. Even during
the last academic year, taking note of the filing of the application by the
petitioner before the competent authority, this Court had directed the
respondents to admit the students to the community quota for the
academic year 2020-2021. I find that the competent authority has
considered the application and has issued a no-objection certificate in
favour of the petitioner herein. However, the records reveal that the
petitioner approached the 1st respondent seeking issuance of the minority
certificate only on 18.8.2021. Of course, the petitioner has a contention
that in view of the restrictions imposed in the State due to the Pandemic
they were not in a position to approach earlier. They also contend that
the respondents have been delaying the acceptance of the application by
stating that they have not been able to establish a mechanism to process
the application. Be that as it may, I find that this Court had by exhibit P6
judgment issued directions to the respondents to permit the petitioner to
admit students in the minority quota for the academic year 2020-2021.
The petitioner is in a better position now that the 4th respondent has
issued Exhibit P7 NOC.
8. Now that the admission procedure for the academic year
2021-2022 is slated to commence on 20.9.2021 and as the respondents
have not taken a decision on Ext.P8 application filed by the petitioner, in
view of Ext.P9, the petitioner would not be able to make admission to the
seats earmarked towards community quota. It is by now settled that a
school which is otherwise a minority school would continue to be so
whether the Government declared it as such or not and the declaration by
the Government is at best only a recognition of an existing fact that it is
being administered by a minority community. (See N. Ammad v.
Manager, Emjay High School and Ors [(1998) 6 SCC 674]). It is
equally settled that Minority Educational Institutions has the right to
preserve certain percentage of seats for their community candidates and
are entitled to give them preference in admission to maintain the minority
character of the institution (See St. Stephen's College v. University of
Delhi [AIR 1992 SC1630]).
9. Having considered the entire facts, I am of the view that in
view of Ext.P7 and the pendency of Ext.P8 application, necessary
directions can be issued to the respondents to permit the petitioner to
make admissions to the seats earmarked towards community quota as
per the prospectus for admissions to the Higher Secondary Section of St.
Thomas Higher Secondary School. There will be a direction to the
petitioner to file an affidavit before the 1st respondent undertaking that
they shall produce the Minority Status Certificate before the end of the
academic year. The 1st respondent shall process Ext.P8 application in
the light of Ext.P7 and take a decision within a period of three months
from the date of production of a copy of this judgment.
This writ petition is disposed of with the above observations.
Sd/-
RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V
JUDGE
sru
APPENDIX OF WP(C) 19369/2021
PETITIONER EXHIBITS
Exhibit P1 A TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO. K. DIS.
26427/69/G4 DATED 30.07.1969 APPROVING THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE CORPORATE EDUCATIONAL
AGENCY ST. THOMAS CHURCH, MALAYATTOOR.
Exhibit P2 A TRUE COPY OF THE GOVERNMENT ORDER G.O.
(MS) NO. 179/2000/G.EDN. DATED 02.06.2000.
Exhibit P3 A TRUE COPY OF THE TRUST DEED NO.
3/IV/2018 DATED 16.01.2018.
Exhibit P4 A TRUE COPY OF THE APPLICATION DATED
22.11.2019 SUBMITTED BY THE PETITIONER
BEFORE THE IST RESPONDENT.
Exhibit P5 A TRUE COPY OF THE COMMUNICATION NO GEDN-
F3/10/2020-G.EDN. DATED 3.2.2020 FROM THE
IST RESPONDENT.
Exhibit P6 A TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT OF THIS HONBLE
COURT DATED 19.08.2020 IN WPC NO.
16792/2020.
Exhibit P7 A TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO.
233/MSC/2020/MWD DATED 23.12.2020 OF THE
4TH RESPONDENT.
Exhibit P8 A TRUE COPY OF THE APPLICATION DATED
18.08.2021 SUBMITTED BY THE PETITIONER
BEFORE THE IST RESPONDENT.
Exhibit P9 A TRUE COPY OF THE VERIFICATION REPORT
DATED 08.09.2021.
Exhibit P10 A TRUE COPY OF THE TREASURY TRANSATION
DETAILS DATED 09.08.2021 OF THE PETITIONER
SCHOOL FOR THE YEAR 2021-22.
