1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY APPELLATE SIDE, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.3700 OF 2010 Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Education & Welfare Society, Registered under the Societies Act, having office at Dhad, Taluka and District Buldhana, through its President Mohd. Siraj Saudagar, Age 43 years, Occ. Social Work, R/o Dhad, Taluka & District Buldhana. ... PETITIONER VERSUS 1. The State of Maharashtra, through Secretary, Education Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai. 2. The Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Jalna, Taluka and District Jalna. (for both respondents copy served on office of Government Pleader, High Court of Bombay, Bench at Aurangabad) ... RESPONDENTS ..... Shri S.P. Shah, Advocate for the petitioner Shri K.G. Patil, A.G.P. for respondents ..... CORAM: R.S. MOHITE & SHRIHARI P. DAVARE, JJ. DATED: 23rd August, 2010 2 ORAL JUDGMENT (PER MOHITE, J.): 1. Rule. The Writ Petition can be decided finally. By consent of parties, rule made returnable forthwith. 2. The petitioner is a minority institution, which is running a Urdu medium school in a village called Dhad, situated in Jalna district. They are proposing to start a secondary school from 8th Standard in village Savangi Awagadrao, situated in Jalna district. The said village Savangi Awagadrao is 15 to 20 Kms. from Dhad where the petitioner’s are running school. On perusal of the record and the reply filed on behalf of the respondents in particular, it is seen that the proposal of the petitioner was accepted by the District Level Committee. The said proposal, however, subsequently was rejected by the State Level Committee. It is admitted that the State Level Committee rejected the proposal on the ground that there was no school of 7th Standard in the area where new school was sought to be established by the petitioner. The affidavit-in-reply, however, admits that the basis on which the State Level Committee rejected the proposal of the petitioner is incorrect as there does exist Zilla Parishad School imparting 7th Standard education in Urdu medium. This being the position, the rejection by the State Level Committee cannot be said to be on a 3 sound footing. In the circumstances, in our view, the petition is required to be allowed in terms of prayer clause (A). The State Level Committee is directed to re-consider the proposal of the petitioner by taking into account relevant factors such as the number of students that are likely to be available in the village where the petitioner wants to open the school and other factors which touch upon the difficulties faced by young students in this area. It is expected that the State Level Committee will pass a reasoned order while deciding the proposal of the petitioner and take a fresh decision in the matter within a period of six weeks. The final decision taken on the said basis will be communicated to the petitioner. 3. Rule made absolute in the aforesaid terms. (SHRIHARI P. DAVARE, J.) (R.S. MOHITE, J.)