Villagers of Village Bai and Others vs State and Others

Ajay Rastogi, J.—This Court vide order dt.27/01/09 observed to finally dispose of the matter at admission stage, hence at request, matter was heard.

Petitioners are local residents of village Bai (Sikar) and basically aggrieved by decision taken by respondent-State in shifting Smt. Birdi Bai Govt. Secondary Girls School to its new building constructed at nearby place in village Bai.

In village Bai (Sikar) there is Government School known as Smt. Birdi Bai Govt. Secondary Girls School ("Govt. School") which was earlier upto middle Standard and later on upgraded to Secondary (10th Class) standard in Oct.''02 after sanction accorded by Director, Secondary School Education, Government of Rajasthan (respondents) vide order dt.14/10/02, inter-alia on the terms & condition that building would be constructed with the help of public funds within two years as per standard of Secondary School specified by local authority/ Nagar Palika or Panchayat Samiti. On 08/08/02, Gram Panchayat Bai took a decision to provide and allot One hectare land out of pasture land of Khasra No. 1104 in favour of Govt. School for construction of new school building and for students'' play ground and proposal whereof was sent to the State Government and taking note whereof, Collector, Sikar took decision under provisions of Land Revenue (School, College, Hospitals & Dharamshala for public use and allotment Rules, 1963 and granted sanction for conversion of One Hectare land out of Khasra No. 1104 and this land was part of pasture land and accordingly allotted the same to Government School, Bai on 99 years'' lease with the condition that it would be used only for school for which it was converted, vide order dt. 24/02/03 (Ann.R5/4).

A member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Shri Santosh Bagdodia released a sum of Rs. Ten lacs out of funds allotted to member of parliament; and some people also gave donation - on the basis whereof, school building was constructed by State authority. After completion of construction of new building for Government School, Assistant Engineer Dantaram Garh (Sikar) issued safety certificate on 18/03/06 and thereafter proposal were also taken by Gram Panchayat for shifting Government School to newly constructed building and finally District Education Officer on 01/09/2006 (Ann.R5/15) granted permission to Head Mistress of Govt. School for shifting to new building.

It appears that vide letter dt.13/09/06 (Ann.R5/16), earlier grant of permission dt. 01/09/06 was cancelled and the Head Mistress of Govt. School was directed to continue Govt. Girl School, Bai in old building. At this stage, CWP303/ 2007 was preferred by Ex-Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Bai (Sikar), wherein this Court taking note of over-all material on record, disposed of the petition with the observations that District Education Officer (Secondary-II) & Executive Engineer PWD may inquire into matter with regard to feasibility of old building and the facilities available in new & old school building; and if it is found that shifting of school to new building will give better facilities than old building to its students, in such eventuality, shifting shall take place to newly constructed school building.

After passing of order dt.25/07/07 in CWP-303/07, present petitioner filed Review petition-126/07 which too was dismissed on 15/04/08 observing that this Court had directed the authorities to examine feasibility of old building and take note of facilities available in new building and take action in accordance with law; and review petitioner, if feels aggrieved by report, will have a right to challenge it, if so advised. After the order of this Court passed on 25/07/07, Public Works Department prepared a comparative statement (Ann.R.2) of both old & new school building after physical inspection of the places and from which it is manifest that newly constructed building has better facilities while Gram Panchayat, Bai also in its meeting held on 26/03/06 recommended to shift the Govt. School in the new building; and the same was forwarded to Head Mistress of Govt. School and taking note of report furnished by PWD, the DEO sent recommendation to the Commissioner (Secondary Education), Bikaner on 20/11/07 (Ann.R5/23) for shifting Govt. School to new building and accordingly, Commissioner accepts recommendations of the DEO vide order dt.28/11/07 (AnnR5/24) granting permission of shifting of Govt. School, Bai to new building and at this stage, instant petition has been filed by local residents.

Counsel for petitioner submits that Govt. school being run in old building provides all facilities and it has been arbitrarily shifted because of political intervention and according to him, unless old building is found in a dilapidated condition, the authority could not be said to be justified in shifting Govt. School being run at one place for last 40 years merely because it was not acceptable to few influential persons in the village and such action of respondents is wholly arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Counsel further submits that comparative statement furnished by PWD Engineers nowhere opines that existing old building is in any manner in a dilapidated condition and its shifting is at all necessary and new building is at far flung from the place of local residents in village Bai and it would be difficult for local residents to send their girl-wards to far flung situated school - as a result whereof, very object and paramount consideration of the State in imparting education particularly to village girls by shifting of Govt. School to far flung place would frustrate the same.

Government Counsel for the State and on behalf of respondent No. 5 jointly submit that since old existing school building was not meeting out their requirement looking to over-all strength of students in Government School, Bai, the land was allotted by Collector, Sikar and after raising funds through Member of Parliament, new building has been constructed only with the object that students may get better facilities and that apart, there is no interest of any individual to continue Government School, Bai in old building. Only paramount consideration of the State is to provide better amenities and facilities to students for imparting education and that was not possible in existing old building as it was in the heart of village where no extension is possible; inasmuch as these all are administrative decisions of State Government and ordinarily are not required to be interfered with unless action on its part is found to be malafide or per se illegal.

I have considered rival contentions of Counsel for the parties and with their assistance, examined material on record. As regards factual matrix, it certainly remains uncontroverted that in village Bai (Sikar) there was only one upper primary school for Girls which was later on upgraded upto 10th Standard and on the recommendations of Gram Panchayat Bai, One hectare land out of Khasra No. 1104 was allotted to Government School for construction of its new building way back on 08/08/02 and that apart, Collector, Sikar converted pasture land and allotted it for use of Government School on lease for 99 years vide order dt.24/02/03 (Ann.R5/4) and after the building was constructed and taking note of proposal sent by Gram Panchayat Bai and at one point of time, DEO also granted permission for shifting of Govt. School to new building vide order dt.01/09/06 which was subsequently cancelled but after intervention of this Court in CWP-303/2007 decided on 25/07/07, a comparative statement was prepared by PWD engineers and matter was examined afresh for shifting of Govt. School and finally, on recommendations of the DEO, Commissioner (Secondary Education) granted permission to shift Government School, Bai to new building vide order dt.28/11/07 (Ann.R5/24).

Submission of Counsel for petitioner that it could have been shifted to new building only if old one is reported to have been dilapidated condition and not at the whims & caprice of the DEO, is without any merit for the reason that these all are purely administrative decisions of the State and it is for the authority to decide as to which is better suitable place where amenities & facilities could be provided to School students and taking note whereof, if State Government has come to its conclusion in shifting Govt. School, Bai to its new building, this Court is not prone to interfere with administrative decision; and at the same time, such administrative decision does not in any manner infringe at least legal rights of petitioners and merely because few local residents of Gram Panchayat Bai are not happy with administrative decisions of State authorities, will not give any right to question it unless infringe their legal right and it is not choice of individual as to which place has to be decided for running Government School.

Further submission made by Counsel for petition about alleged arbitrariness in the decision of the Commissioner in granting permission for shifting of Government School, Bai is bereft of merit for the reason that these being pure administrative decision, in absence of action being imputed of malice or arbitrariness, this Court is not required to interfere in writ jurisdiction U/Art.226 of the Constitution of India.

However, suffice it to say that earlier when order granting permission for shifting Govt. School, Bai to its new building was cancelled by DEO vide letter dt.13/09/06 (Ann.R5/16), it was challenged in CWP-303/2007 which was disposed of by this Court vide order dt.25/07/07 observing that the authorities may examine feasibility of old building and facilities in new building and if it is found that shifting of Govt. School, Bai will provide better facilities, and new building satisfied requisite standards fixed by State authorities, exercise be undertaken to shift the same. However, taking note of comparative statement of both the buildings (old & new), the authority recommended that better facilities can be made available to the students if it is shifted to new building and on recommendation of DEO duly supported with material on record, Commissioner (Secondary Education), Bikaner granted permission for shifting of Govt., School, Bai to newly constructed building in village-Bai, itself. This Court does not find any error in administrative decision, which in any manner may call for interference.

Consequently, writ petition fails and is hereby dismissed. Stay order dt.27/05/08 stands vacated. No order as to costs.