Manager, St. Peters Higher Secondary School, Kolenchery, Ernakulam District v. State of Kerala and Others

**WP(C) NO. 18679 OF 2021** **1** ## **IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM** ## **PRESENT** **THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V THURSDAY, THE 16[TH] DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2021 / 25TH BHADRA, 1943 WP(C) NO. 18679 OF 2021** ## **PETITIONER:** MANAGER ST. PETERS HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL, KOLENCHERY, ERNAKULAM DISTRICT-682 311. BY ADVS. GEORGE POONTHOTTAM (SR.) NISHA GEORGE VISHNU B.KURUP ## **RESPONDENTS:** 1 STATE OF KERALA REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL EDUCATION, GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 001. 2 THE DIRECTOR OF HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION DIRECTORATE OF HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION, HOUSING BOARD BUILDING, SANTHI NAGAR, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 001. 3 THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION EDAPPALLY RAGHAVAN PILLAI ROAD, DEVANKULANGARA, EDAPPALLY, ERNAKULAM DISTRICT-682 024. SRI BIJOY CHANDRAN SR GOVERNMENT PLEADER THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 16.09.2021, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: **WP(C) NO. 18679 OF 2021** **2** ## **JUDGMENT** The St.Peter’s Higher Secondary school, Kolenchery is a school established and managed by the St. Peter’s and St.Paul’s Orthodox Syrian Church, Kolenchery. The petitioner herein is the Manager of the said school. This writ petition is filed being aggrieved by the condition imposed by the 2nd respondent that the submission of a minority certificate is a condition precedent for admitting students to the seats earmarked for community quota. The petitioner also complaints that though by various judgments, the petitioner school has been declared as a minority institution, the respondents have refused to issue the certificate though requested for by the petitioner. 2. The petitioner contends that the St. Peter’s and St.Paul’s Orthodox Syrian Church had established a school under its management in the year 1919 and the school was upgraded to a High School in the year 1937. The institution, according to the petitioner is a minority educational institution as it has been established and administered by a minority community. It acquired the status of a minority institution entitled to protection under Article 30(1) of the Constitution of India through its establishment and administration. 3. The petitioner states that there was a dispute with regard to the management of the school and the matter went up to the Apex Court. The **WP(C) NO. 18679 OF 2021** **3** issue was finally settled as per the judgment dated 19.11.2018 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in SLP (C) No. 25733/2014 and pursuant to the same, the petitioner herein was elected as the Manager as per Ext.P1 order passed by the DEO, Aluva. The petitioner states that they had filed an application for obtaining minority status certificate before the 1st respondent on 5.12.2018 but the same was rejected on the ground that the State Government was not granting minority status certificates to educational institutions. The petitioner was directed to approach the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions. The petitioner contends that the minority status of other institutions established and administered by the same Corporate agency has been recognized by the State Government and it has also been held so by this Court. Reliance is placed on Ext.P2 judgment and Ext.P3 notification to substantiate the said contention. It is contended that when the respondents refused to open the Community Seat Matrix Quota Link during the academic year 2019-2020, the petitioner had approached this Court and by Ext.P4 interim order dated 30.5.2019, this Court had permitted the petitioner to upload the details of students to be admitted under the 20% quota on submission of an undertaking to produce the Minority certificate during the academic year. The petitioner states that they have already approached the National Commission for Minority Education for issuance of certificate but due to the outbreak of COVID -19, the hearing could not be held. The petitioner contends that the Government has come out with Ext.P5 order which states **WP(C) NO. 18679 OF 2021** **4** that the minority status of the High School section in a school is also applicable to the Higher Secondary Section of the same school and the admissions to the 20% seats in the community quota for the academic year 2019-2020 can be made on the condition that the certificate of minority status is produced within the same year. The petitioner states that for the academic year when the link was not provided to the petitioner they had approached this Court highlighting their minority institution status and this Court by Ext.P6 judgment had directed the 2nd respondent to open the admission matrix to enable the registration of the students in the community quota seats. The petitioner further states that while deciding the dispute with regard to the appointment of the Principal in the petitioner school, this Court had occasion to hold in Ext.P7 judgment that the petitioner institution is a minority institution and this finding was confirmed by their Lordship of the Division Bench in appeal as is evident from Ext.P8. 4. The petitioner contends that the admission procedure for the academic year 2021-2022 has commenced and the submission of online applications to community quota seats will start on 20.9.2021. The respondents have insisted that the admission to community quota seats will be based on the submission of the minority certificate. According to the petitioner, unless the certificate sought for by the petitioner is submitted, they will not be permitted to make admissions to the community quota. It is contended that the petitioner has been enjoying the minority status and they **WP(C) NO. 18679 OF 2021** **5** have been admitting students in the minority quota from the very inception of the school. Ext.P6 to P8 judgments rendered by this Court establishes that the petitioner institution is a minority institution. Though their application is pending before the National Commission, due to various factors, the certificate has not been issued to date. According to the petitioner, it is owing to the delay on the part of the respondents in expeditiously considering the application submitted by the petitioner that this stalemate has occurred. It is in the afore circumstances that the petitioner is before this Court seeking directions to the 2nd respondent to take necessary action to enable the petitioner to make admission to 20% of seats earmarked as community quota seats for the year 2021-2022 and for incidental reliefs. 5. I have heard Shri. George Poonthottam, the learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner as instructed by Sri. Arun Chandran, and Sri. Bejoy Chandran, the learned Senior government pleader. 6. Having considered the submissions, I find that the minority status of the other institutions established and administered by the very same corporate agency has been recognized by this Court. This fact is evident from Ext.P2, P6 to P8. The State Government has also recognized the minority status and this fact is evident from Ext.P3 and P5. I also find that during the previous academic year, this Court after considering all aspects had issued orders permitting the petitioner to admit students in the seats earmarked **WP(C) NO. 18679 OF 2021** **6** towards community quota. I find that the petitioner has a specific case that pursuant to Ext.P4 order, they had approached the National Commission for Minority Education and sought for issuance of a minority certificate but due to the restrictions imposed due to COVID -19 pandemic, the hearing could not be held. 7. Now that the admission procedure for the academic year 20212022 is slated to commence on 20.9.2021 and as the petitioner has not been issued with the certificate by the National Commission, they would not be in a position to admit students to the seats earmarked towards community quota. It is by now settled that a school which is otherwise a minority school would continue to be so whether the Government declared it as such or not and the declaration by the Government is at best only a recognition of an existing fact that it is being administered by a minority community. (See **N. Ammad v. Manager, Emjay High School and Ors** [(1998) 6 SCC 674]). It is equally settled that Minority Educational Institutions has the right to preserve a certain percentage of seats for their community candidates and are entitled to give them preference in admission to maintain the minority character of the institution (See **St. Stephen’s College v. University of Delhi** [AIR 1992 SC1630]). 8. Having considered the entire facts, I am of the view that necessary directions can be issued to the 2nd respondent to permit the **WP(C) NO. 18679 OF 2021** **7** petitioner to make admissions to the seats earmarked towards community quota as per the prospectus for admissions to the Higher Secondary Section of St.Peter’s Higher Secondary School. There will be a direction to the petitioner to file an affidavit before the 2nd respondent undertaking that they shall produce the Minority Status Certificate before the end of the academic year. This writ petition is disposed of with the above observations. **Sd/-** **RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V** **JUDGE** NS **WP(C) NO. 18679 OF 2021** **8** ## **APPENDIX OF WP(C) 18679/2021** PETITIONER EXHIBITS Exhibit P1 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO.B1/5005/A/17/K.DIS DATED 19.1.2019 ISSUED BY THE D.E.O ALUVA Exhibit P2 TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DATED 12.5.1992 OF THIS COURT IN OP NO 5834/1992 PASSED BY THIS HON'BLE COURT Exhibit P3 TRUE COPY OF THE RELEVANT PAGES OF THE NOTIFICATION NO M.2/17850/2019/D.P.I DATED 24.5.2019 ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF GENERAL EDUCATION Exhibit P4 TRUE COPY OF THE INTERIM ORDER DATED 30.5.2019 IN WPC NO 14836 OF 2019 PASSED BY THIS HON'BLE COURT Exhibit P5 TRUE COPY OF THE GO(RT) NO 1921/2019/GEN.EDN DATED 27.5.2019 Exhibit P6 TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DATED 26.8.2020 IN WPC 17807/2020 PASSED BY THIS HON'BLE COURT Exhibit P7 TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DATED 9.11.2020 IN WPC 22009/2020 PASSED BY THIS HON'BLE COURT Exhibit P8 TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DATED 18.3.2021 IN WA 211/2021 PASSED BY THIS HON'BLE COURT Exhibit P9 TRUE COPY OF THE VERIFICATION REPORT WHICH HAS TO BE SIGNED AND KEPT IN THE SCHOOL.