IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP NO.14255 of 2008 Date of decision: August 13, 2008 Sunil Singh Versus Education Department and others Coram: Hon’ble Mr.Justice T.S.Thakur, Chief Justice and Hon’ble Mr.Justice Surya Kant. Present: Shri I.William Gosain, Advocate, for the petitioner. **** T.S.Thakur, CJ (Oral) This petition purports to have been filed in Public Interest. It calls in question a memo dated July 24, 2008 issued by the District Education Officer, Chandigarh Administration, Chandigarh to all the Heads of the Department, Govt. Aided/Private/Recognized Schools of U.T.Chandigarh, asking them to remain open on August 15, 2008 to organize a two hours programme to celebrate the Country’s Independence Day. The celebrations are to be in the nature of hoisting of the National Flag, Salutation ceremony, singing of National Anthem and other cultural programmes if any. The memo also exhorts the Schools to narrate the stories of freedom fighters and to dis-play the same on the notice boards of the schools. The school authorities have been called upon to inform the parents of the children studying in the school in writing well in advance so that they can make all arrangements for picking up their children from the schools after the celebrations. The Schools have also been asked to serve refreshment to the children and to appoint responsible staff member for the flag lowering ceremony before Sunset. Appearing for the petitioner Shri I.William Gosain, strenuously argued that August 15, 2008 being a Gazetted Holiday, the District Education Officer was not justified in issuing the directions contained in the impugned memo. According to the learned counsel, the memo does not serve any purpose CWP NO.14255 of 2008 -2- inasmuch as one does not become more patriotic by attending such ceremonies. He argued that the memo makes it compulsory for the School Administration to keep the schools open and the staff members to attend the ceremony. This according to him needs to be corrected by issuing a suitable direction from this Court. There is, in our opinion, no merit in the contention urged by Mr. Gosain. As noticed earlier, the memo is in the nature of instructions to the Schools to celebrate Independence Day in a manner befitting the importance of the occasion. It is evident from a plain reading of the memo that the celebration programme would stretch over just about two hours for the limited purpose of hoisting the National Flag, holding a salutation ceremony and singing the National Anthem. We do not see any unconstitutionality or illegality in the instructions issued by the Directorate to justify interference with the same especially in exercise of our extra ordinary writ jurisdiction in Public Interest. The writ petition appears to be misconceived and an abuse of the process of law. The same is, therefore, dismissed with costs, assessed at Rs.10,000/-. At this stage, Shri I.William Gosain seeks permission to withdraw the writ petition un-conditionally to avoid payment of costs. Although, we do not approve of the practice of withdrawing the petition, after the same has been dismissed, yet keeping in view the nature of the controversy and the fact that the matter relates to the celebration of Independence Day, we make an exception and permit the petitioner to withdraw the writ petition unconditionally. The petition is, therefore, dismissed as withdrawn, without any order as to costs. ( T. S. THAKUR ) CHIEF JUSTICE August 13, 2008 ( SURYA KANT ) Malik JUDGE