IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.6326 of 2009 GOPAL PODDAR SHASTRI Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS ----------- CWJC No.6327 of 2009 DINESH PRASAD YADAV Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS ----------- CWJC No.6409 of 2009 ABHI NANDAN SHARMA Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS ----------- 2. 20.5.2009 Heard counsel for the petitioners and the counsel for the Bihar Sanskrit Shiksha Board as also the State of Bihar. In all these cases the grievance of the petitioners is one and the same and therefore, they are being disposed of by this common order. The common case of the petitioners is that they have been managing the affairs of their respective schools and teaching in such school is being conducted for several years. It is their further case that on earlier occasions the students of their school were also allowed to appear in the examination conducted by the Bihar Sanskrit Shiksha Board while their cases for recognition in terms of section 6 of the Sanskrit Shiksha Act had remained pending. Their grievance now is that though their cases for recognition have yet been kept pending but this time the facility earlier arrangement of allowing their students to appear in the examinations have not been extended to them on the ground that the Board has taken a policy decision for not allowing 2 the students of un-recognized institution to appears the students as a regular candidate. Counsel for the petitioner in all these cases have invoked the doctrine of legitimate expectation and have submitted that the Board cannot refuse permission to the students in appearing the examination on the ground of the schools being unrecognized in as much as the case of such recognition has still been kept pending by the Board itself. In the opinion of this Court the scope of legitimate expectation has also certain limit. There is no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that the petitioners had always been expecting that since their case for recognition was pending, their students should be allowed to appear even this year in the examinations conducted by the Board. However such expectation cannot become legitimate because the law itself enjoins only the students of a recognized institution to appear in the examination as a regular candidate. Therefore, if the Institution of the petitioners/ Sanskrit Schools are not yet recognized they cannot claim to send their students in the examination of the Board as a matter of right. Therefore the decision of the Board in not allowing such students to appear in the examination cannot be said to be erroneous either on fact or in law. The law however enjoins that when ever any institution including the Sanskrit School would approach for being recognized the Board being the competent authority in terms of section 6 of the Act the Board will have to take a decision. The modality 3 of such decision is again based on the satisfaction of the Board which has to find out the genuineness, viability and other fulfillment of conditions of eligibility fixed under the Rules. This exercise must be done by the Board on periodical basis and if the case of the petitioners for recognition is pending for years they must receive consideration for a final decision. Considering all these aspects this Court would direct the respondent Board to consider the cases of the petitioners for grant of recognition by a decision of the Board (not of its Chairman) within a period of six months and such decision in form of recommendation be sent to the State Government for prior approval and the State Government (not its principal Secretary of the Human Resources Department) must take a decision within the next three months from the date of receipt of such recommendation of the Board. The final decision of the Board in terms of Government decision must be communicated to the petitioners as early as possible preferably within a period of ten months from today, so that for the next annual examination the petitioners and their institution may know their correct position. Let it be made clear that this Court has expressed no opinion on the merits of the claim of the petitioners which has to be decided strictly in accordance with law in the light of their fulfilment of conditions of eligibility as per the Rules of Recognition of Sanskrit schools. 4 With the aforesaid observations and directions all the three applications are accordingly finally disposed of. (Mihir Kumar Jha,J.) Surendra/