IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY NINTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 10987 of 2005 Between: Chitturi Babu Rao S/o Thimmayya, BGRHS. Rajahmundry, R/o Katavaram, Seethanagaram Mandla, East godavari District ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, rep by PRincipal Secrtary, Education DEpartment, Secretariat, Hyderabad 2 The Commissioenr & Director of School Educatin, Andhra PRadesh, Near Secrtariat, Hyderabad 3 The Regional Joint Director of school Education, East Godavari, Kakinada 4 The District Educational Officer, East Godavari Distrct, Kakinada 5 Bethal Grace Residential High School, Alcot Gardens, Sambhunagar, Rajahmundry, rep by President, Smt. P. Rebeccamma .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction particularly one in the nature of Writ of mandamus declaring the order of the Government dt 18-01-2005 in G.O.Rt. No. 40 and the consequential proceedings of the Director of school Education dt 10-2-2005 in R.Cno. 422/B2-2/203 as bad illegal, contrary to the reports submitted by the authorities; and consequently direct the Government to take over the institution as recommended by the Revenue Divisional Officer, dt 2-2- 2005 in ref. B/1676/2004, and pass such other and further orders to meet the ends of justice. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.V.S.K.RAMA RAO Counsel for the Respondents 1 to 4.: GP FOR EDUCATION Counsel for the Respondent No.5: MR. CH. SAMSON BABU The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition has been filed by Chttiuri Babu Rao with a prayer to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction, particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring the order of the Government dt.18.01.2005 in G.O.Rt.No.40 and the consequential proceedings of the Director of School Education, dated 10.02.2005 in Rc.No.422/B2-2/203 as bad, illegal, contrary to the reports submitted by the authorities and consequently direct the Government to take over the institution as recommended by the Revenue Divisional Officer, dt.02.02.2005 in Ref.B/1676/2004. 2. Bethal Grace Residential High School-5th respondent was established in the year 1984. 5th respondent School has been established by a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The registered office of the Society is situated at Alcot Gardens, Sambhunagar, Rajahmundry. Smt.P.Rebecamma is the President of the society. According to the petitioner, the office bearers of the Society approached him with a request to arrange Rs.25.94 Lakhs as aid to the M.C.A. College on the representation that they got approval from AICTE, New Delhi for establishing M.C.A.College. He raised funds and deposited the amount as per AICTE terms. The Chairman, Bharat Aid Sweedan inspected the premises of the Society and found that the society cheated their organization. The creditors who lent money to the petitioner filed a suit being O.S.No.21 of 2000 and the same is pending on the file of V Additional District Judge, Rajahumundry. Some disputes arose with regard to the amount which allegedly lent by him. He submitted a representation to the District Collector, East Godavari District complaining misappropriation and mis-utilization of the funds of the society. The Government directed the Commissioner and the Director of School Education to examine the matter and take appropriate action. An enquiry was stated to have been conducted on 30.08.2002 and 31.08.2002. Thereafter, the Government issued G.O.Rt.No.40, Education (PS) Department, dated 18.01.2005, granting aid to the 5th respondent school subject to certain conditions. Assailing the said G.O.Rt., the petitioner has filed this writ petition. For better understanding the grievance of the petitioner, I deem it appropriate to refer paras.14 to 16 of the writ affidavit, which read as hereunder: “14. I submit that I bring two more instances wherein the then Secretary of the Society has misappropriated Government funds also. While securing grant-in-aid in the year 1991, fabricated the records and issued false appointment orders to the interested teachers and fraudulently drew the aid amount in the name of arrears. A teacher by name T.John Babu Ratnam though was working in Mandal Parishad School issued false orders and withdrew the arrears to a tune of Rs.33,540/- aggregating Rs.2.56 lakhs. In respect of the appointment of Smt.T.Nalini Ratna Kumari as teacher also, the Management issued false orders. The same was also observed by this Hon’ble Court in WP.No.2842/2000, dt.21.2.2003. The order dated 21.2.2003 was confirmed in W.A.No.483/04, dt.19.7.2004. 15. I submit that suppressing all these material facts, the 5th respondent filed another W.P.No.14330/04 and obtained an order directing the government and Director of School Education to consider the proposal submitted by District Educational Officer, Kakinada in Rc.No.16-A7/2000, dated 27.1.2004 within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of the order. The order is dated 31.8.2004. 16. I submit that the newly constituted committee is nothing but the members of the old committee only. They excluded me and Sri A.Benhur as Executive Directors. I cannot be excluded from the society. In fact, while arranging the amount of Rs.17.00 lakhs loan in the agreement, it was stated that I will be continued as Executive Director till the entire amount is repaid. An institution which has no respect to law and the government orders has to be closed down immediately. The number of enquiries conducted by various departments have not given any fruitful result. They could not stop the unwanted and fraudulent activities of the society.” 3. Rule Nisi came to be issued on 07.06.2005. Respondents 4 and 5 filed separate counter-affidavits. 4. Smt.P.Parvathi, District Educational Officer, East Godavari District, Kakinada, has sworn to the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the 4th respondent. It is stated in the counter-affidavit that the Government after careful examination, confirmed the Correspondentship of Smt.P.Rebakkamma, B.G.R. High School, Rajahmundry, as per Section 24 of the A.P. Education Act, 1982 in Govt. Memo.No.72452/P.S.- II/2004-7, dated 27.01.05. It is further stated in the counter-affidavit that after thorough verification and after conducting various enquiries and hearings by the Minister for School Education and Principal Secretary, Education Department, Hyderabad, with the Director of School Education, Hyderabad, District Educational Officer, East Godavari District, Kakinada and the Management concerned, accorded permission to sanction G.I.A. and confirmed the Correspondentship in favour of Smt.P.Rebakkamma, wife of the deceased Correspondent, vide G.O.Rt.No.40 Ed. (P.S.) Department, dated 18.01.2005 and Govt. Memo.No.72451/ P.S.II/2004-7, dated 27.01.2005. 5. Smt.P.Rebeccamma, Correspondent of the 5th respondent School, has sworn to the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the 5th respondent. It is stated in the counter-affidavit that under Section 60 of the A.P. Education Act, a Minority Educational Institution cannot be taken over without the prior consent of the management and an outsider like the petitioner cannot put the process of law into motion for settling his alleged demands which are not germane for running of a High School. When the Government finds that the manager of an institution is responsible for committing certain irregularities, he alone shall be punished but the society itself will not be held responsible for the misdeeds of the Manager. It is further stated that the petitioner, who is a rank outsider, cannot question the issuance of G.O.Rt.No.40, dated 18.01.2005, since the Government based on the enquiry reports and findings of the various authorities, in its discretion, has passed orders under the powers conferred by the provisions of A.P. Education Act. 6. Heard learned counsel appearing for the parties. 7. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the Government having taken into consideration the representation submitted by the petitioner pointing out the misappropriation of the amounts by the management of the society which runs the 5th respondent School committed error in releasing grant-in-aid to the society. 8. Learned Government Pleader for School Education submits that basing on the enquiry reports and findings of the District Educational Officer, East Godavari District, and the District Co-Operative Officer, Kakinada, the Government has accorded permission to the Commissioner and Director of School Education, to take action. After due consideration of the representation and provisions of Section 24(4) of the A.P. Education Act, 1982, the G.O. impugned in the writ petition came to be issued. 9. I have gone through the earlier litigation between the petitioner and the management of the society. The principal grievance of the petitioner is that the society prevailed him to arrange a sum of Rs.20.00 Lakhs for establishing MCA College. The petitioner disputed his exclusion as Executive Director, in which case, he has to work out his remedy elsewhere. The Government after considering the various representations and provisions of the A.P. Education Act proceeded to issue the G.O. impugned in the writ petition. I do not see any flaw in issuing the G.O. impugned in the writ petition. 10. Accordingly, the writ petition is devoid of merits and it is hereby dismissed. No costs. ______________________ B.SESHASAYANA REDDY, J. Date:29th June, 2009. cs ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{TRK}