CWP No.15839 of 2009 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. DATE OF DECISION: 17.3.2010 Harjit Singh and others ...Petitioners VERSUS Chairman, Punjab School Education …Respondents Board and others CORAM HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI PRESENT: Mr.RD Sehgal, Advocate for the petitioners Mr.Sarabjeet Singh, Advocate for respondents no.1 to 3 Respondent no.4 ex-parte. Permod Kohli, J. (Oral) This petition depicts sorry state of affairs in so far as the functioning of the Punjab School Education Board, Mohali is concerned. The action of the respondent-Board warrants reprimand for taking the petitioners to CWP No.15839 of 2009 2 ransom for no fault of theirs. The Board has virtually wasted complete one year of the petitioners who are students, at this stage of their career. Briefly stated the facts as emerge from the record are that the petitioners were admitted to respondent no.4-Government School. They appeared in 10th Class examination held for the academic session 2008- 2009. They were issued roll numbers for appearance in the examination by the respondent-Board. They participated in the examination and on declaration of their results, they were declared as “pass”. The grievance of the petitioners is that their matriculation certificates have not been issued by the Board. According to the petitioners, respondent no.4- School informed them about some dispute of the School with the Board. The petitioners have placed on record a communication (Annexure P-1) issued by the Controller of Examinations, Punjab School Education Board, Mohali to the Principal of respondent no.4-school wherein it is mentioned that number of regular candidates for the matriculation/secondary examination, March, 2009 at the centre of the school is 48 only. There is deficiency of 52 candidates resulting in less payment of fee amounting to Rs.13000/- to the Board. It appears that according to the norms of the Board, there should be minimum 100 students for matriculation and if the number of students is less than 100, the concerned school is under some obligation to pay fee for all the 100 students at the rate of Rs.250/- per candidate. It was communicated that in case of failure, the examination centre of the school CWP No.15839 of 2009 3 for the next year would be cancelled and the certificates relating to the examination of March, 2009 would also not be issued. The Principal of the respondent no.4-School responded to the aforesaid communication vide his letter dated 2.2.2009 (Annexure P-2) and informed the Board that the School is not in a position to deposit the amount demanded by the Board. It appears that on account of non-payment of fee by the School, the certificates of the petitioners have been withheld. The petitioners made representations to the respondent-Board from time to time, but no heed was paid to their genuine request by the Board. On being put to notice, written statement has been filed on behalf of the respondent-Board. The same plea is reiterated regarding the non- payment of the full fee by the School. The Board has also placed on record copy of a form said to be filled up by the School undertaking to pay the full fee. Be that as it may. The claim of the respondent-Board for deficient fee was against the respondent no.4-school. No rule or law permits the Board to withhold the certificates of the petitioners who were only the students and were not responsible for non-payment of fee in any manner. Even if there is any such rule, the same is illegal and unconstitutional. In any case, no such rule or law has been brought to the notice of this Court to show even semblance of justification of the action of the Board. The action of the Board is totally uncalled for in so far as it relates to the withholding of the certificates of CWP No.15839 of 2009 4 the petitioners. The Board is responsible for harming the career of students and causing tremendous agony by its illegal action. Under the given circumstances, this petition is allowed. Respondent- Board is directed to release the matriculation certificates to the petitioners within one week, failing which the petitioners are at liberty to move this Court for initiation of contempt proceedings against the respondent-Board. Innocent petitioners have been made to suffer without any lawful basis. The respondent-Board is liable to be punished for its totally arbitrary and unwarranted act. The petitioners need to be compensated. The respondent- Board is directed to pay an amount of Rs.50,000/- as compensation to the petitioners to be equally shared by them. The amount of compensation shall be deposited before this Court within two weeks. On deposit of the amount, the same will be disbursed to the petitioners. In the event of failure of the respondent-Board to deposit the amount within the above mentioned time, this order shall be executed as a decree of the court. In that eventuality, the amount shall be recovered from the salary/emoluments of the Chairman of the Board. (PERMOD KOHLI) JUDGE 17.3.2010 MFK NOTE: Whether to be referred to Reporter? Yes