1 BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT DATED: 05/04/2011 C O R A M THE HONOURABLE Mr.JUSTICE K.VENKATARAMAN Writ Petition (MD) No.3493 of 2011 E.Princy Sandralo D/o.I.Edward Selvaraj Studying 3rd Year B.Sc., (Physics) American College Madurai-625 002. ... Petitioner Vs 1.The Chief Secretary, State of Tamil Nadu, Fort St. George, Chennai. 2.The Principal Home Secretary State of Tamil Nadu, Fort St. George, Chennai. 3.The State of Tamil Nadu, Rep. By its Secretary Department of Higher Education, Fort St. George, Chennai. 4.The Governing Council of American College rep. By its Acting Principal & Secretary R.Mohan Madurai. ... Respondents (R4 impleaded as party respondent vide order dated 31.03.2011 in M.P.No.2 of 2011) Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for the issuance of Writ of Mandamus to direct the respondents herein to take necessary steps as per GO 2(D) No.9 (Higher Secondary Education E2 Department) dated 18.02.2011 for the peaceful functioning of the American College, Madurai. For petitioner ...Mr.K.Diravianathan For Respondents ...Mrs.V.Chellammal Additional Advocate General for Mr.P.Thilakkumar Additional Government Pleader O R D E R Heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and learned Additional Advocate General appearing for the respondents. 2. The petitioner has filed the present Writ Petition for a mandamus directing the respondents herein to take necessary steps as per G.O (2D) No.9 (Higher Secondary Education E2 Department) dated 18.02.2011 for the peaceful functioning of the American College, Madurai. https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/ 2 3. The case of the petitioner, who is a student studying in III year B.Sc., Physics in the American College, in nutshell stated hereunder: 3.1. The College is administered by the Governing Council through the Principal & Secretary. The Principal and Secretary of the College, Dr.Chinnaraj Joseph Jaikumar, attained the age of superannuation in the month of November 2010. Thereafter several untoward incidents continuously occurred inside the College campus regarding the administration of the College. The said incident has caused havoc to the students, who are studing in the College. 3.2. Therefore, the Government after careful consideration appointed a high level three member Committee vide G.O.(2D) No.9 (Higher Education (E2) Department) dated 18.02.2011. As per the said G.O., three members of the Committee headed by Chief Secretary, Principal Home Secretary and Higher Education Secretary have to settle the issue amicably by peaceful talks with the concerned parties. However, no effective steps have been taken after formation of the said Committee. The students, parents and the staff are put to untold hardship in view of the unrest situation in the College. Therefore, the petitioner approached this Court by filing the present Writ Petition for the relief stated earlier. 4. When the matter was listed, after notice to the respondents, it has been informed to this Court that the Committee has been formed on 18.02.2011 and decided to take some concrete action. However, not satisfied with the said submission made by the Additional Government Pleader, who appeared then, this Court directed the learned Additional Advocate General to appraise the facts before the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary and the Secretary, Department of Higher Education and further directed to get instruction from them, as to when the committee is going to be convened after notice to all the parties concerned. 5. Today, the learned Additional Advocate General produced a letter from the Principal Secretary to Government dated 01.04.2011 addressed to the learned Additional Advocate General stating that the meeting was to be convened by the Chief Secretary on 11.03.2011 and it could not be held due to pre-occupation of the Chief Secretary. The second meeting was convened on 29.03.2011. Since legal issues are involved in this matter, it was decided to hold the meeting with the Inspector General of Registration Department, which is the department concerned with the registration of Societies, in the second week of April 2011 and it was also decided to hold the meeting on 18.04.2011 with the disputing parties of American College. The minutes of the meeting held on 29.03.2011 is also produced before this Court and the same is extracted hereunder: “The following decisions were taken at the meeting:- 1.There were representations regarding postponement of examinations at American College since some of the students who could not attend the classes because of the prevailing situation in the American College. It has been discussed in the Committee and taking into consideration of the welfare of students it was decided to request the Vice Chancellor, Madurai https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/ 3 Kamaraj University to explore the possibility of holding the examinations after a month, after giving due notice to the students so that all the students could prepare themselves for the examinations. 2.The salary of the teaching and non-teaching staff have not been disbursed since December 2010 because of the dispute regarding the validity of nomination of Secretary of the Council. It was decided in the meeting that the teaching and non-teaching staff need to be paid for their work and because of the dispute they cannot be left in lurch. It was decided by the committee to direct the Director of Collegiate Education to examine the possibility of disbursement of salary, after devising some mechanism by which the attendance of the staff could be verified. 3.It was decided to take up the other issues in consultation with the Registration Department and decided to hold the second meeting of the Committee during the second week of April 2011. “ 6. In view of the above stated position, I am of the considered view that the respondents are taking some steps in this regard and I hope that the next meeting, which will be conducted on 18.04.2011, after notice to all the parties concerned. The Writ Petition is, therefore, closed, since there is nothing to be adjudicated in this writ petition. No costs. Consequently connected Miscellaneous Petition is closed. Sd/- Deputy Registrar (LA) /True copy/ Assistant Registrar To 1.The Chief Secretary, State of Tamil Nadu, Fort St. George, Chennai. 2.The Principal Home Secretary State of Tamil Nadu, Fort St. George, Chennai. 3.The Secretary The State of Tamil Nadu, Department of Higher Education, Fort St. George, Chennai. +1CC TO MR.M.AJMAL KHAN, ADVOCATE SR.12760 RR SR : 13.05.2011 : 3p/5c W.P.(MD) No.3493 of 2011 and M.P.No.1 of 2011 05.04.2011 https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/