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TMI Blog1978 (9) TMI 173X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... year 1947 Dr. A. G. Pereira, a retired Medical officer, opened a High School at Kaniyapuram mainly for the, benefit of the students of the Christian community. The sanction of the then Government of Travancore for opening the School was accorded to him by letter dated 21st February, 1947, Ext. P-1. Subsequently the School was transferred to the Trivandrum Roman Catholic Diocese. For the last more than 25 years the School was administered by this Diocese. The appellant is the corporate Manager of the Schools belonging to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trivandrum. It is not in dispute that as a matter of fact only boy students were admitted ill the School till the end of academic year 1971-72. In the year following the management built a separate building in the School compound to provide accommodation for girl students. The Manager applied to the Regional Deputy Director for permission to admit girl students in the School, although according to his case, it was strictly not necessary to do so in law. By letter dated June 5, 1973 Ext. P-2 the Regional Deputy Director refused to give sanction for admission of the girl students. The main ground of refusal of the sanction contained in t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nunderstandable. By the time the child reaches the secondary school stage it would have grown up a little. At that age to keep them under proper guidance and discipline the rule is made that they should as far as possible be given education in girls' Schools only. This is only in the nature of a regulation for discipline and morality. It does not interfere with the power of administration of an educational institution by a minority community. There is no dispute that the School was an existing School within the meaning of Section 2(3) of the Act. Thus within the permissible limits without violating the protection given to a minority institution under Article 30 of the Constitution, the Act and the Rules came to govern this School also. As already stated, there is no definition of a boys' School either in the Act or the Rules. But in Rule 6 of Chapter II it has been provided- Schools where ad- mission to some or all of the Standards is restricted to girls shall be known as Girls' Schools. Rule 12 in Chapter VI reads as follows:- Admission of Boys into Girls' Schools:- (i) All Primary Schools (Lower and Upper) shall be deemed to be mixed Schools and adm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and ending with 9 Judges' Bench decision of this Court in The Ahmedabad St. Xaviers College Society anr. etc. v. State of Gujarat anr.( [1975] 1 S. C. R 173.) In State of Kerala, etc. v. Very Rev. Mother Provincial, etc.,( [1971] I S. C. R. 734.) Hidayatullah, C.J., speaking for the Court has said at page 740:- There is, however, an exception to this and it is that the standards of education are not a part of management as such. These standards concern the body politic and are dictated by considerations of the advancement of the country and its people. Therefore, if universities establish syllabi for examinations they must be followed, subject however to special subjects which the institutions may seek to teach, and to a certain extent the State may also regulate the conditions of employment of teachers and the health and hygiene of students. Such regulations do not bear directly upon management as such although they may indirectly affect it. Yet the right of the State to regulate education, educational standards and allied matters cannot be denied. The minority institutions cannot be allowed to fall below the standards of excellence expected to educational institutions ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t of the said Rule does not seem to be for the sake of discipline or morality. Any apprehension of deterioration in the moral standards of students if co-education is permitted in Secondary Schools does not seem to be the main basis of this Rule, although it may be a secondary one. The very fact that girls can be admitted into a boys school situated at a place where there are no girls' school in the town or the area leads to this conclusion. It is to be remembered that no category of a school as a boys' school is specified in the Act or the Rules. Nor was our attention drawn to any provision enabling the educational authorities to force the school authorities to admit girls in a school where they don't want to admit them. The self imposed restriction by the management in vogue for a number of years restricting the admission for boys only, per se, is wholly insufficient to cast a legal ban on them not to admit girls. The ban provided in Rule 12(iii) as already adverted to is of a very limited character and for a limited purpose. Permission was granted to Dr. Pereira for opening the school in 1947 as a High School. No restriction in terms was imposed for not admitting any ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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