The High Court
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK W.P.(C) No.19255 of 2023 Bishnu Charan Hati …. Petitioner Ms. Arjuna Charana Behera, Advocate -versus- State of Odisha and others Opposite Parties Mr.Saswat Das, A.G.A. …. CORAM: JUSTICE A.K. MOHAPATRA Order No. ORDER 09.08.2023 09 1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid Arrangement (Virtual /Physical Mode). 2. Heard learned counsel for the Petitioner as well as learned
Decision
Additional Government Advocate. Perused the Writ petition as well as the documents filed by both sides in course of hearing of the matter. 3. The Petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present Writ Petition with a prayer for a direction to Opposite Party No.2 to 4 to admit the Petitioner in Class VI for the academic year 2023-24 of Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika under Subarnapur district by setting aside the letter dated 16.06.2023 under Annexure-4. 4. The factual background of the present case, in short, is that the Petitioner, who is a young student, aged about 11 years was interested in taking admission in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika. Accordingly, the father of the Petitioner got recommendation in // 2 // favour of the Petitioner from the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) on 18.03.2023. On perusal of the said recommendation letter under Annexure-1, it appears that the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) has clearly made a recommendation in favour of the Petitioner for admission in Cass VI in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika. On production of the aforesaid recommendation letter of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha), the District Education Officer, Sonepur forwarded the aforesaid recommendation letter to the State Project Director for approval of the name of the Petitioner for admission in Class-VI for the academic session 2023-24 vide letter dated 12.04.2023 under Annexure-2. 5. Pursuant to the guidelines, the State Project Director vide his letter dated 28.04.2023 under Annexure-3 directed the Principal, Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika for giving admission to the Petitioner in Class VI of the School for the academic session 2023- 24. Accordingly, the Petitioner was given admission in the said School. 6. While this was the position, the father of the Petitioner again came to learn that the admission of his son has been unilaterally cancelled by the Principal, Odisha Adarsha Vuidyalaya, Binika On enquiry, the father of the Petitioner came to learn that the State Project Director has again issued a cancellation letter dated 16.06.2023 thereby cancelling the admission of the Petitioner, which has been annexed to the Writ Petition as Annexure-4. Being aggrieved by such conduct of the Opposite parties, the Petitioner approached this Court by filing the present Writ Petition. 7. Learned counsel for the Petitioner submitted before this Court that on the recommendation of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) namely; Mr.Niranjan Bisi, the Petitioner was given admission in // 3 // Class-VI of Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika, Therefore, he contended before this Court that the recommendation of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) has already been acted upon by the State Opposite Parties and the Petitioner was given admission in Class VI of the aforesaid Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika. The subsequent change in the recommendation of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) by another letter is not valid in law inasmuch as earlier recommendation of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) has already been given effect to. In such view of the matter, learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner submitted that once the first recommendation had been acted upon and given effect to, the Opposite Parties by accepting the subsequent recommendation and cancelling the admission of the Petitioner have committed a serious illegality. Therefore, it was submitted by the learned counsel for the Petitioner that the impugned conduct in cancelling the admission of the Petitioner is highly illegal and arbitrary and unsustainable in law and accordingly prayed that the decision to cancel the Petitioner’s admission be quashed by this Court. 8. Learned Additional Government Advocate on the other hand, relying upon the instructions dated 03.08.2023 and 05.08.2023 of the Opposite Parties submitted that initially the Petitioner was given admission in the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika. Thereafter, the authorities received another recommendation from the very same Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) recommending the name of another student vide letter dated 22.04.2023 namely, Rohan Sahu son of Dhanurjaya Sahu and the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) finally recommended the name of one Ronak Kumar Patra son of Ranjit Kumar Patra for admission in Class VI in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya vide letter dated 28.04.2023. Learned Additional Government // 4 // Advocate referring to the Rules governing the admission in the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya submitted before this Court that in view of the provisions contained in the guidelines, each Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) can recommend one seat only in Class VI in any Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya located in the State of Odisha In the present case, the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) recommended three different candidates for three different Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya in State of Odisha, which is not in consonance with Clause-(f) & (g) of the guidelines. Clause-(g) of the guidelines further provides that admissions which are to be made to the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya on recommendation of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) shall be over and above the sanctioned strength of the Class. 9. In view of the confusion created on receipt of three separate recommendations for three different Odisha Adharsa Vidyalayas, the Opposite Parties sought for a clarification from the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha). The said Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) vide his letter dated 02.06.2023, in response to the clarification sought for, intimated that recommendation for admission in favour of Ronak Kumar Patra son of Ranjit Kumar Patra in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya shall be treated as final recommendation and no other recommendation shall be acted upon. However, by then the present Petitioner has already been given admission in the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika. 10. Learned Additional Government Advocate at this juncture, keeping in view the provisions in the guidelines submitted that the authorities vide letter dated 16.06.2023 cancelled the admission of the present Petitioner to accommodate one Ronak Patra pursuant to the recommendation of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha). 11 It is pertinent to mention here that at the time of admission of // 5 // the Writ Petition, this Court while issuing notice has passed an interim order on 23.06.2023 in I.A.No.8996 of 2023 and directed that till next date one seat in Class-VI in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika shall not be filled up, if the same has not been filled up in the meantime. 12. Learned Additional Government Advocate also contended before this Court that the guidelines prepared by the State Government for admission of students in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalas for the academic session 2023-24 provides that only one student can be recommended by each of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) in the State of Odisha. Therefore, the State-Opposite parties have no other option, but to cancel admission of the present Petitioner keeping in view the final recommendation of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha). He also submitted that initially basing on the recommendation of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha), the Petitioner was given admission. However, when the Opposite Party No.2 received a subsequent recommendation from the very same Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha), a clarification was sought for and on the basis of such clarification, a subsequent recommendation has been acted upon by cancelling the earlier admission. However, he does not dispute the fact that by the time the subsequent recommendation has been issued, the recommendation in favour of the Petitioner has already been acted upon by giving admission to the Petitioner. 13. Pursuant to the direction of this Court, learned Additional Government Advocate obtained instructions with regard to the vacancy position in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika. Basing on the instruction vide letter No.328 dated 03.08.2023 received from the Principal, Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika, learned Additional Government Advocate submitted that three seats are lying vacant in // 6 // Class-VI in Binika Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, out of which one seat belonged to S.C. category and the other two belonged to S.T category. He further submitted that since the admission process is over, no other student is likely to take admission for the academic session 2023-24. So far as the Petitioner is concerned, learned Additional Government Advocate submitted that the Petitioner belongs to UR category. 14. Having heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and on a careful consideration of the Writ Petition as well as the materials placed before this Court by the learned Additional Government Advocate and on a careful examination of the submissions made by the learned counsel for the respective parties, this Court observes that in view of the guidelines formulated for admission in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalayas for the academic year 2023-24, each of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) can recommend one student in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalayas in the State of Odisha. Such admission shall be over and above the sanctioned strength of such Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya. So far as the present petitioner is concerned, his name was initially recommended by the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) and the same was acted upon by the State-Opposite parties and accordingly, the Petitioner was given admission to Class-VI in Odisha Adarsha Vidyala, Binika. However, it is observed that subsequently two other recommendations have been made by the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha), as a result of which the Opposite Parties have cancelled the admission of the Petitioner. On a careful analysis of the factual background of the case, this Court is of the considered view that there is no provision in the guidelines as to by which date the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) is required to send the recommendation. So far the present Petitioner is concerned, undisputedly his name was // 7 // recommended first and accordingly he was given admission in Class- VI in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika and the admission of the Petitioner has nothing to do with the vacancy although there are three vacancies available belonging to S.C. & S.T category. The subsequent recommendations were made after cancellation of the initial recommendation made in favour of the Petitioner. 15. In such view of the matter, this Court is of the considered view that acceptance of subsequent recommendation by the State authorities are not in consonance with law. Further, this Court on examination of the guidelines found that there is no time limit by which the recommendations are to be made by the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha). So far facts of the present case is concerned, this Court is of the considered view that cancellation of admission of the Petitioner at a belated stage after giving him admission initially, is likely to cause serious prejudice to the Petitioner, who is aged about only 11 years. It may so happen, he may not get admission in any other educational institutions at this belated stage, therefore, in the facts and circumstances of the present case, an innocent student, aged about 11 years is likely to be the worst sufferer. Moreover, no opportunity was given to the Petitioner to show cause before cancellation of his admission Therefore, this Court has no hesitation in coming to a conclusion that the cancellation of admission of the Petitioner is not in the larger interest of justice. Accordingly, it is held that the same is unsustainable in law and this Court has no hesitation in quashing the impugned cancellation order dated 16.06.2023 under Annexure-4 to the Writ Petition. The Opposite parties are directed to revive the admission of the Petitioner and permit him to attend class in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya, Binika as a regular student of Class-VI. 16. Before parting this Court would like to observe that the State // 8 // Government is required to revisit the guidelines for the purpose of admission to the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya. Further, this Court also observes that it would be desirable that the State Government would incorporate the outer time limit for receipt of recommendation of the Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha) for admission of students in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya as per Clause-(f) & (g) of the guidelines. The guideline should clearly provide a provision to the effect that once the recommendation is accepted, the same shall not be cancelled under any circumstances. Since such cancellation would cause serious prejudice to the innocent students, who have already taken admission pursuant to such recommendations. So far other students are concerned, who have been recommended by the very same Hon’ble M.P.(Rajya Sabha), this Court is of the considered view that if such students have already taken admission, their admission shall not be disturbed in the current academic session keeping in view the peculiar facts of this case. However, from the next academic session, the State Government is required to incorporate the outer time limit much before the next academic session and necessary amendments to the guidelines be carried out in the light of the observations made by this Court herein above. 17. With the aforesaid observations/direction, the Writ petition is allowed. 18. Issue urgent certified copy of this order as per Rules. ( A.K. Mohapatra ) Judge Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: RAMESH KUMAR SINGH Designation: Junior Stenographer Reason: Authentication Location: High Court of Orissa Date: 10-Aug-2023 18:49:47