The President, St. Thomas Educational and Charitable Trust, St. Thomas Church, Malayattoor, Manager, St. Thomas Higher Secondary School, Malayattoor, Ernakulam v. State of Kerala and Others

**WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021** **1** ## **IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM** ## **PRESENT** ## **THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V** **FRIDAY, THE 17[TH] DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2021 / 26TH BHADRA, 1943** ## **WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021** ## **PETITIONER:** THE PRESIDENT, ST. THOMAS EDUCATIONAL AND CHARITABLE TRUST, ST. THOMAS CHURCH, MALAYATTOOR, FUNCTIONING AS THE MANAGER, ST. THOMAS HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL, MALAYATTOOR, ERNAKULAM-683 587. BY ADVS. N.SATHEESH K.JANARDHANA SHENOY MARTIN CHACKO S.RAKHEE PRIYA CAROL ## **RESPONDENTS:** 1 STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL EDUCATION, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 001. 2 THE DIRECTOR OF GENERAL EDUCATION, DIRECTORATE OF GENERAL EDUCATION, JAGATHY, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 014. 3 THE REGIONAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR, HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION, ERNAKULAM, EDAPPALLY-682 024. 4 THE DIRECTOR, DIRECTORATE OF MINORITY WELFARE, GOVERNMENT OF KERALA, 4TH FLOOR, VIKAS BHAVAN, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 033. SRI BIJOY CHANDRAN SR GOVERNMENT PLEADER THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 17.09.2021, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: **WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021** **2** ## **JUDGMENT** St. Thomas Higher Secondary School is a school run by the St.Thomas Educational and Charitable Trust. The petitioner herein is the President of the Trust and the Manager of the school. The institution is owned by the Roman Catholic School Minority Community and is under the management of the Roman Catholic St. Thomas Church, Malayatoor. The petitioner asserts that the school is an educational institution established and administered by the Christian Religious community and hence, entitled to protection under Article 30(1) of the Constitution of India. 2. The grievance of the petitioner in this writ petition concerns the non-issuance of the minority certificate, the production of which is a condition precedent to make admissions to the seats earmarked as community quota in the school. 3. The petitioner states that on 22.11.2019, the petitioner had submitted Ext.P4 application before the 1st respondent seeking issuance of minority status certificate. The said request was responded with Ext.P5 communication wherein it is stated that the Government has appointed the 4th respondent as the competent authority under Section 10 of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) Act, **WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021** **3** 2004 to decide on the application regarding issuance of No Objection Certificate for the establishment of educational institutions by minorities. It is also stated that the Secretary General, Education Department is the competent authority under Section 12(B) of NCMEI Act to decide on the application regarding minority status of educational institutions. 4. In the light of Ext.P5, the petitioner is stated to have filed an application for issuance of NOC. Since no action was taken, the petitioner approached this Court and filed W.P.(C) No.16792/2020 seeking directions. By Ext.P6 judgment dated 19.8.2020, the petitioner herein was permitted to admit students to the 20% community quota in the higher secondary school for the academic year 2020-2021 and directions were issued to open the web portal to facilitate the admission process. Further direction was issued to the 4th respondent to consider Ext.P4 application submitted by the petitioner and take a decision within three months. The petitioner contends that the 4th respondent considered the request made by the petitioner and issued Ext.P7 No objection certificate in granting minority status to the St. Thomas Higher Secondary School. Armed with Ext.P7, the petitioner is stated to have approached the 1st respondent and filed Ext.P8 application seeking issuance of minority certificate. It is contended that the 1st respondent has not taken any action to date. The explanation offered is that the 1st respondent has not established the administrative mechanism to process the applications. **WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021** **4** 5. 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. In response to the application submitted by the petitioner, Ext.P9 verification report has been issued wherein it is stated 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 have been admitting students in the minority quota from the very inception of the school. They are also stated to have remitted fees in the Government treasury for admitting the students to the minority quota as is evident from Ext.P10. 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 respondents 1 and 2 to permit the petitioner to make admission to 20% seats in the Higher Secondary Section of St.Thomas Higher Secondary school for the seats earmarked towards community quota and for further directions. 6. I have heard Shri. N. Satheesh, the learned counsel for the petitioner and Smt. Nisha Bose, the learned Senior Government Pleader **WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021** **5** appearing for the respondents. 7. The records reveal that the petitioner has been enjoying minority status from the year 2000 onwards and till last year they were being permitted to make admissions in the minority quota, as per the Rules. This aspect of the matter has been considered by this Court while passing Ext.P6 judgment. It also appears that when the condition for the production of minority status certificate was imposed, the petitioner had approached this Court and had filed W.P.(C) No.14871 of 2019 and during the pendency of the writ petition, the respondents had permitted the petitioner to make admissions under the community quota. Even during the last academic year, taking note of the filing of the application by the petitioner before the competent authority, this Court had directed the respondents to admit the students to the community quota for the academic year 2020-2021. I find that the competent authority has considered the application and has issued a no-objection certificate in favour of the petitioner herein. However, the records reveal that the petitioner approached the 1st respondent seeking issuance of the minority certificate only on 18.8.2021. Of course, the petitioner has a contention that in view of the restrictions imposed in the State due to the Pandemic they were not in a position to approach earlier. They also contend that the respondents have been delaying the acceptance of the application by stating that they have not been able to establish a mechanism to process **WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021** **6** the application. Be that as it may, I find that this Court had by exhibit P6 judgment issued directions to the respondents to permit the petitioner to admit students in the minority quota for the academic year 2020-2021. The petitioner is in a better position now that the 4th respondent has issued Exhibit P7 NOC. 8. Now that the admission procedure for the academic year 2021-2022 is slated to commence on 20.9.2021 and as the respondents have not taken a decision on Ext.P8 application filed by the petitioner, in view of Ext.P9, the petitioner would not be able to make admission 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 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]). 9. Having considered the entire facts, I am of the view that in view of Ext.P7 and the pendency of Ext.P8 application, necessary **WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021** **7** directions can be issued to the respondents to permit the petitioner to make admissions to the seats earmarked towards community quota as per the prospectus for admissions to the Higher Secondary Section of St. Thomas Higher Secondary School. There will be a direction to the petitioner to file an affidavit before the 1st respondent undertaking that they shall produce the Minority Status Certificate before the end of the academic year. The 1st respondent shall process Ext.P8 application in the light of Ext.P7 and take a decision within a period of three months from the date of production of a copy of this judgment. This writ petition is disposed of with the above observations. **Sd/-** **RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V JUDGE** sru **WP(C) NO. 19369 OF 2021** **8** ## **APPENDIX OF WP(C) 19369/2021** PETITIONER EXHIBITS Exhibit P1 A TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO. K. DIS. 26427/69/G4 DATED 30.07.1969 APPROVING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CORPORATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY ST. THOMAS CHURCH, MALAYATTOOR. Exhibit P2 A TRUE COPY OF THE GOVERNMENT ORDER G.O. (MS) NO. 179/2000/G.EDN. DATED 02.06.2000. - Exhibit P3 A TRUE COPY OF THE TRUST DEED NO. 3/IV/2018 DATED 16.01.2018. - Exhibit P4 A TRUE COPY OF THE APPLICATION DATED 22.11.2019 SUBMITTED BY THE PETITIONER BEFORE THE IST RESPONDENT. - Exhibit P5 A TRUE COPY OF THE COMMUNICATION NO GEDNF3/10/2020-G.EDN. DATED 3.2.2020 FROM THE IST RESPONDENT. - Exhibit P6 A TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT OF THIS HONBLE COURT DATED 19.08.2020 IN WPC NO. 16792/2020. - Exhibit P7 A TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO. 233/MSC/2020/MWD DATED 23.12.2020 OF THE 4TH RESPONDENT. - Exhibit P8 A TRUE COPY OF THE APPLICATION DATED 18.08.2021 SUBMITTED BY THE PETITIONER BEFORE THE IST RESPONDENT. Exhibit P9 A TRUE COPY OF THE VERIFICATION REPORT DATED 08.09.2021. Exhibit P10 A TRUE COPY OF THE TREASURY TRANSATION DETAILS DATED 09.08.2021 OF THE PETITIONER SCHOOL FOR THE YEAR 2021-22.