Manipur High Court
Langpoklakpam Kamal & Anr vs State Of Manipur & 5 Ors on 3 March, 2023
Item No. 31-35
LHAINEI Digitally
by
signed
CHONG LHAINEICHONG
HAOKIP
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MANIPUR
HAOKIP Date: 2023.03.03
17:40:14 +05'30' AT IMPHAL
MC(WA) No. 164 of 2022 With
MC(WA) No. 165 of 2022 With
MC(WA) No. 171 of 2022 With
WA No. 103 of 2022 With
WA No. 105 of 2022
Langpoklakpam Kamal & Anr.
.....Applicant/s
- Versus -
State of Manipur & 5 Ors.
.... Respondent/s
BEFORE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AHANTHEM BIMOL SINGH
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A. GUNESHWAR SHARMA
03.03.2023
A. Bimol Singh, J.
[1] Heard Mr. Kh. Tarunkumar, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr. L.
Stevenson, learned counsel appearing for the appellants, Mr. Lenin Hijam,
learned Advocate General assisted by Mr. Phungyo Zingkhei, learned
counsel appearing for the official respondents and Mr. HS. Paonam, learned
senior counsel assisted by Ms. Malemleima, learned counsel appearing for
the respondent No. 5.
[2] The present appeals have been filed challenging the validity and
legality of the judgment and order dated 20.09.2022 passed by the Learned
Single Judge in WP(C) No. 968 of 2021 and WP(C) No. 569 of 2022.
MC(WA) No. 164 of 2022 & Ors. Page 1
[3] The case of the appellants is that by an order dated 02.03.2021
issued by the Director of University and Higher Education, Government of
Manipur, the Governing Body of the Naorem Birahari College, Khundrakpam
consisting of 10 members were constituted with effect from the date of the
issue of the order for a term of three years. Before completing even a year of
their term, the Deputy Secretary (Higher and Technical Education),
Government of Manipur issued an order dated 29.09.2021 thereby, dissolving
the Governing Body by invoking the provisions under Section 27 (d) and also
withdrawing and suspending the Grant-in-Aid provided to Naorem Birahari
College, Khundrakpam with immediate effect and until further orders. In the
said order, liberty was given to file representation to the Government for
reconsideration within a period of 15 days in case the college is aggrieved. In
terms of the said liberty given by the authorities in the aforesaid order, the
appellants filed two separate representations with request for revoking the
said order on the ground mentioned thereunder.
[4] When the authorities failed to consider and dispose of the said
representations, the Appellant No. 1 approached this Court by filing WP(C)
No. 835 of 2021 assailing the said order and by an order dated 23.11.2021,
this Court disposed of the said writ petition by directing the Commissioner
(Higher and Technical Education), Government of Manipur to consider and
dispose of the said representation filed by the Chairman/Secretary/Governing
MC(WA) No. 164 of 2022 & Ors. Page 2
Body of Naorem Birahari College, Khundrakpam in accordance with law
within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a copy of the order
passed by the Court.
[5] When this Court asked both the learned Advocate General and Mr.
HS. Paonam, learned senior counsel as to whether the authorities have
considered and disposed of the said representations, they have failed to
answer the queries of this Court, however, in fairness, Mr. HS. Paonam,
learned senior counsel draw the attention of this Court to the order dated
27.11.2021 issued by the Deputy Secretary, (Higher and Technical
Education), Government of Manipur and submitted that pursuant to the
direction given by the Court, the authorities have issued the said order.
[6] On careful examination of the said order dated 27.11.2021, this Court
did not find anything contain therein which indicates that the authorities have
dully considered the representation submitted by the petitioner and after
proper application of mind, the said representation has been disposed of on
merit. The said order pertains to only restoring the Grant-in-Aid status
provided to the said college and indicating that a separate order regarding
constitution of a fresh Governing Body and appointment of In-charge
Principal will be issued. Subsequently, the Director of University and Higher
Education, Government of Manipur issued another order dated 18.12.2021 by
which the Grant-in-Aid provided to Naorem Birahari College, Khundrakpam
MC(WA) No. 164 of 2022 & Ors. Page 3
was suspended and consequently, the Governing Body of the college was
also dissolved with retrospective effect from 29.09.2021.
[7] Under the said order, it is also stated that the subsequent order was
issued in supersession of the earlier Government order dated 29.09.2021 to
correct the former defect and to ensure the compliance of the provisions
under the Manipur Education Code, 1982 and earlier order passed by the
Hon'ble High Court of Manipur in that regard. Having been aggrieved, the
appellants approached this Court by filing the aforesaid two writ petitions
assailing the said orders dissolving the Governing Body.
[8] The ground raised by the appellants in challenging the aforesaid
orders are reproduced by the Learned Single Judge in Para 26 of the
impugned judgment and order, which reads as under:-
"26. The petitioners challenged the impugned orders dated
29.9.2021, 27.11.2021, 29.11.2021 and 18.12.2021 on the
following grounds:
"(i) The order dated 29.9.2021 was issued without
giving any prior show cause to the Governing
Body which is mandatory under Clause 27 of
the General Principles and Condition Governing
Payment of Grant-in-Aid in the Aided College in
the State of Manipur.
"(ii) This court by the order dated 19.3.2020 passed
in W.P.(C) No. 390 of 2019 has held that the
Director of University and Higher Education is
the only competent authority who can dissolve
the Governing Body of the Government Aided
College and the Commissioner (Higher And
Technical Education) is not the competent
authority to issue an order dissolving the
MC(WA) No. 164 of 2022 & Ors. Page 4
Governing Body of the Government Aided
College.
"(iii) The illegality occurred in the order dated
29.9.2021 cannot be rectified by the order
dated 18.12.2021 of the Director of University
and Higher Education.
"(iv) All the aforesaid four orders have been passed
in violation of principles of natural justice."
[9] The first and fourth grounds raised by the appellants was that the
impugned orders were issued without giving any prior show-cause notice to
the members of the Governing Body which was mandatorily required under
Clause 27 of the General Principles and Condition Governing Payment of
Grant-in-Aid in the Aided college in the State of Manipur and that the
impugned orders have been passed in violation of natural justice. It is an
undisputed fact that before issuing the impugned orders, no show-cause
notice or opportunity of being heard to the appellants to defend themselves
were ever given.
[10] On perusal of the impugned judgment and order passed by the
Learned Single Judge, the Learned Single Judge have never considered this
aspect even though this ground has been raised by the appellants at the time
of consideration of the writ petitions.
[11] The learned Advocate General as well as Mr. HS. Paonam, learned
senior counsel strenuously submitted before this Court that while invoking the
provisions under Clause 27 of the General Principles and Condition
MC(WA) No. 164 of 2022 & Ors. Page 5
Governing Payment of Grant-in-Aid in the Aided colleges in the State of
Manipur, the Principle of Natural Justice is not applicable and that since the
appellants have already filed two detailed representations raising their
grievances and since the authorities have already considered their
representations, giving show-cause notice to them will be an exercise of
futility and that the Principle of useless formality is attracted in the present
cases.
[12] After hearing the rival submissions advanced by the learned counsel
appearing for the parties and on careful perusal of the record, this Court
found that the dissolution of the Governing Body was ordered on the ground
of serious allegations which is specifically recorded by the Learned Single
Judge at Para 32 of the impugned judgment and order. The said Para 32
reads as under:-
"32. At this juncture, it is pertinent to note that this Court
perused the relevant file produced by the learned Advocate
General, wherefrom this Court finds that before passing the order
dated 29.9.2021, an inspection was carried out and the following
instances to gross mismanagement were found:
"(i) Total amount of salaries disbursed cannot be
ascertain as amount received against some of the
employees are not mentioned;
"(ii) Account relating to the amounts so far donated
from various quarters including the employees were
also not clear as it appears that no
records/document is maintained in this regard;
"(iii) No clear cut stand with regards to the seniority
position of the lecturer is made till date;
MC(WA) No. 164 of 2022 & Ors. Page 6
"(iv) Data with regards to the financial utilisation of
Bachelor Degree vocational Course since 2004 is
also not tallied. And above all there appears a
conspiracy with regards to the creation of 17 posts."
[13] When the authorities intended to take action against the appellants on
the ground of serious allegations raised against them, it is imperative that
before imposing any penalty the appellants should be given an opportunity to
defend themselves and to have a say to the allegations raised by the
authorities, which is the minimum requirement mandated by the Principle of
Natural Justice. In the present cases, this basic principle of law has not been
adhered to by the authorities before issuing the impugned orders. This Court
also found that the Learned Single Judge never considered this aspect of the
matter and we are of the considered view that this issue needs to be
considered thoroughly in the present appeals.
[14] Consequently, the appeals are admitted for hearing. In the meantime,
the operation of the impugned judgment and order dated 20.09.2022 shall
remain suspended.
List these cases again on 31.03.2023.
JUDGE JUDGE
Lhaineichong
MC(WA) No. 164 of 2022 & Ors. Page 7
