Patna High Court
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.3301 of 2012 ====================================================== 1. Sanjay Kumar S/O Sri Ganga Prasad Mandal R/O Village- Baddiparha, P.O.- Jamalpur, P.S.- East Colony, District- Munger 2. Raj Kumar Bajaj S/O Bajrang Lal Bajaj R/O Village- Jamalpur, P.O. And P.S.- Jamalpur, District- Munger Versus .... .... Petitioners 1. The State Of Bihar 2. The Principal Secretary Human Resources Development Department, Government of Bihar, Patna 3. The Director, Secondary Education Government of Bihar, Patna 4. The Regional Deputy Director of Education, Munger Division, Munger 5. The District Education Officer, Munger, District- Munger 6. The Bihar School Examination Board through the Secretary Sinha Library Road, Patna 7. The Secretary the Bihar School Examination Board, Sinha Library Road, Patna 8. The Headmaster of Adrash High School, Tarapur, District- Munger .... .... Respondents ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MIHIR KUMAR JHA ORAL ORDER 4 11-01-2013 Heard counsel for the parties. In this writ application the prayer of the petitioners reads as follows: “That, the present writ application is being filed for issuance of an appropriate writ/writs, order/orders, direction to the respondents to allow the petitioners and supply the requisite forms and accept the said forms and issue admit cards and allow them to appear in Matriculation Board Examination which is going to be held on 22nd February, 2012. For a direction to issue registration slip by the respondent no.8 as petitioners duly appeared in pre-test examination/ sent up test as private candidate conducted by the Adarsh High School, Tarapur (Nationalized
Legal Reasoning
Patna High Court CWJC No.3301 of 2012 (4) dt.11-01-2013 2 Secondary School) as per regulation and petitioners duly passed the said examination, Board duly issued the registration slip against the successful candidates and also against the petitioners.”
Legal Reasoning
Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, learned Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners, has submitted that it would be wholly illogical for the authorities of the Bihar School Examination Board not to have allowed the petitioners to appear in the Matriculation Board Examination conducted from 22nd February, 2012. He expands his submission by saying that the petitioners were the private candidates who had sought permission being registered as a private candidate from Adarsh High School, Tarapur, a Nationalized Secondary School and as per Rules they had appeared in the test examination, whereafter as they had cleared the test examination they became eligible for appearing in the final examination conducted by the Board. He has, accordingly, summed up his submission that denial of opportunity to the petitioners in appearing in final examination was wholly unjustified and contrary to the Rules and Regulation of the Board. In this case a counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the Bihar School Examination Board wherein it has been stated that the petitioners as a private candidate were required to appear in preliminary test examination which was conducted in the month Patna High Court CWJC No.3301 of 2012 (4) dt.11-01-2013 3 of December, 2011 but the petitioners did not appear in such examination. The whole aspect has been explained in paragraph 8 of the counter affidavit which reads as follows: “8. That from perusal of the letter no. 104 dated 3.1.2012 and letter no. 106 dated 11.1.2012 of Headmaster, Adarsh High School, Tarapur, Munger as received through letter no.79 dated 12.1.2012 of the District Education Officer, Munger it is evident that only 64 out of 294 private candidates were present in the preliminary test examination whereas earlier after putting whitener on the original figure shown all the private students appeared in the examination. The letter no. 79 dated 12.1.2012 of the District Education Officer, Munger made it clear that earlier at some stage fraudulently the tabulation sheets of the result were changed wherein the petitioners have been shown present but from the aforesaid facts it is evident that actually they were absent in the said preliminary test examination and as such, they are not eligible to appear in the Annual Secondary School Examination, 2012.” This matter was heard earlier and this Court by an order dated 19.12.2012 had directed the counsel for the Board to support the aforesaid stand with documentary evidence. Today Mr. Satyavir Bharti, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Bihar School Examination Board, has produced the file of the Board bearing No. 269/Munger/Pariksha of 2012, Patna High Court CWJC No.3301 of 2012 (4) dt.11-01-2013 4 wherein at page 46 there is a communication of the Principal of Adarsh High School, Tarapur bearing letter No. 104 dated 3.1.2012 in which the figure „0‟ has been obliterated/ erased by whitener to create an impression that 264 students were registered and all of them had appeared in the test. The figure of absent students, therefore, has also been changed and it becomes clear from the use of ink under the heading „Anupasthit‟ is not in the same ink in which the entire letter has been written. It, therefore, becomes manifest that the report of the Headmaster of Adarsh High School, Tarapur was interpolated or changed. The question, therefore, would be if the petitioners are one of those 264 candidates who were registered as private candidates and none among 264 had appeared in the test there could be no question of the petitioners being allowed to appear in the Board examination, inasmuch as they did not fulfil the mandatory condition of appearing in the test examination. Mr. Singh, however, has insisted that there are other evidence to show that the petitioners had appeared in the Board examination. He wants this Court to direct the Principal Secretary of the Education Department to hold an enquiry in the matter. He says that if the complicity of the petitioners is exposed both of them are prepared to face criminal prosecution. Patna High Court CWJC No.3301 of 2012 (4) dt.11-01-2013 5 In view of the aforesaid offer of Mr. Singh as with regard to the enquiry and the criminal prosecution, this Court would direct the Principal Secretary of the Education Department to conduct an enquiry in the whole matter and if it is found that the letter of the Headmaster dated 3.1.2012 at page 46 of the file in question was interpolated he would direct the District Education Officer, Munger to lodge a First Information Report against the erring persons including the petitioners. It however goes without saying that if the Principal Secretary of the Education Department finds that the petitioners had actually appeared in the test examination and yet they were wrongfully deprived in appearing in the final examination conducted by the Board and that interpolation and forgery in the letter dated 3.1.2012, was done deliberately either by the Headmaster or any employee of the school he would direct for taking disciplinary action against the concerned erring person(s). With the aforementioned observation and direction, this
Decision
application is disposed of. (Mihir Kumar Jha, J) surendra/-