138 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA GAURAV GHAI SEC SCHOOL LDH K.K YADAV CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE Present: Mr. Rajinder Ghai, Mr. R.S. Kalra, HARKESH MANUJA By way Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 India, prayer has been made for initiation of contempt proceedings against the respondent on account of alleged willful non-compliance of order dated 28.09.2023 passed by this in CWP-21822 hereunder:- 3. Mr. Gurtej Singh, Deputy Secretary, appearing on behalf of the respondent respect to the charges of examination fee fo concerned, since petitioner no.2 School Education Board as yet, thus, the respondent charging any examination fee for the 5'" and 8" class and thus, the grievance of petitioner no.2 second prayer, it has been stated that as per the latest notification, in case petitioner no. 2 10*, there is a standard slot for every year starting from 1" Ap year upto 15" September of the said year when the school, which wishes to seek affiliation from the respondent further submitted that after inspection and following the procedure as per law and after fulfilling all the c IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: GAURAV GHAI SEC SCHOOL LDH Versus HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARKESH MANUJA Mr. Rajinder Ghai, Advocate for the Mr. R.S. Kalra, Advocate for the **** HARKESH MANUJA, J. (ORAL) By way of present petition filed under Section 11 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 India, prayer has been made for initiation of contempt proceedings against the respondent on account of alleged compliance of order dated 28.09.2023 passed by this 21822-2023. The operative part thereof is extracted Mr. Gurtej Singh, Deputy Secretary, appearing on behalf of the respondent-Board has submitted that as far as the first prayer with respect to the charges of examination fee fo concerned, since petitioner no.2-school is not affiliated to the Punjab School Education Board as yet, thus, the respondent charging any examination fee for the 5'" and 8" class and thus, the grievance of petitioner no.2-school is misconceived. With respect to the second prayer, it has been stated that as per the latest notification, in case petitioner no. 2-school wishes to get affiliation for classes gth and 10*, there is a standard slot for every year starting from 1" Ap year upto 15" September of the said year when the school, which wishes to seek affiliation from the respondent further submitted that after inspection and following the procedure as per law and after fulfilling all the conditions, the affiliation is granted in IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH COCP-3587-2024 (O&M) Date of Decision: January 08, 2025 ........Petitioner ........Respondent HARKESH MANUJA Advocate for the petitioner. Advocate for the respondent. of present petition filed under Section 11 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 India, prayer has been made for initiation of contempt proceedings against the respondent on account of alleged compliance of order dated 28.09.2023 passed by this Court 2023. The operative part thereof is extracted Mr. Gurtej Singh, Deputy Secretary, appearing on behalf of the Board has submitted that as far as the first prayer with respect to the charges of examination fee for 5" and g' class is school is not affiliated to the Punjab School Education Board as yet, thus, the respondent-Board is not charging any examination fee for the 5'" and 8" class and thus, the chool is misconceived. With respect to the second prayer, it has been stated that as per the latest notification, in school wishes to get affiliation for classes gth and 10*, there is a standard slot for every year starting from 1" April of that year upto 15" September of the said year when the school, which wishes to seek affiliation from the respondent-Board, can apply. It is further submitted that after inspection and following the procedure as onditions, the affiliation is granted in (O&M) January 08, 2025 of present petition filed under Section 11 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 India, prayer has been made for initiation of contempt proceedings against the respondent on account of alleged Court 2023. The operative part thereof is extracted Mr. Gurtej Singh, Deputy Secretary, appearing on behalf of the Board has submitted that as far as the first prayer with r 5" and g' class is school is not affiliated to the Punjab Board is not charging any examination fee for the 5'" and 8" class and thus, the chool is misconceived. With respect to the second prayer, it has been stated that as per the latest notification, in school wishes to get affiliation for classes gth and ril of that year upto 15" September of the said year when the school, which Board, can apply. It is further submitted that after inspection and following the procedure as TEJWINDER SINGH 2025.01.10 16:04 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document COCP-3587-2024 (O&M) -2- accordance with law. It is submitted that in case petitioner no.2-school wants affiliation for classes gth and 10th and as per the case of petitioner no.2, g'h class is to commence from 01.04.2024 then, petitioner no.2 needs to apply in the slot for the year 2024 i.e., 01.04.2024 to the said period, then the said application would be considered in accordance with law. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that in view of the statement made by the authorised representative of respondent- Board before this court, the two main grievances have been met and thus, as far as the two main grievances are concerned, the present writ petition be disposed of as having been rendered infrucutous. For the other grievances raised in the present petition, it is prayed that the petitioners be granted liberty to seek remedy in accordance with law. 5. In view of the above, the present petition is disposed of as having been rendered infructuous. Respondent-Board would be bound by the statement made before this Court. Liberty is granted to the petitioners to seek remedy with respect to the other grievances as prayed for, in accordance with law.” Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that in terms of the aforementioned order, application for affiliation sought to be submitted by petitioner was required to be entertained in terms of the old fee and parameters fixed by the Punjab School Education Board and by not having done that respondents were liable to be proceeded against for having willfully violated the order passed by the Writ Court. On the other hand, learned counsel for respondent refers to an order dated 18.10.2024 passed in LPA-1878-2024 whereby a similar plea raised on behalf of the petitioner initially by way of writ petition and thereafter in an intra-Court appeal did not find favour. The operative part thereof is extracted hereunder:- TEJWINDER SINGH 2025.01.10 16:04 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document COCP-3587-2024 (O&M) -3- “4. During the course of arguments, it transpires that the requisite application has been filed but the objection of the appellants is that in the meantime, amended regulations have come into force whereby the criteria for application form has been increased from Rs.30,000/- to Rs.1.5 lakhs plus GST. Similarly, the requirement of the area of the school has been increased from 3000 sq. feet to 5500 sq.feet. It is sought to be argued that since the earlier order was passed on 28.09.2023(Annexure P-10), the appellants would be covered by the old regulations. 5. We do not feel that any such principle can be put-forth as the eligibility criteria has to be seen for all. Once the amended regulations have come into force, it should apply en-bloc to everybody and in the absence of fulfillment of the norms, the application of the appellants is not being considered. Resultantly, we do not find any ground to interfere in the reasoned order passed by the Learned Single Judge and the present appeal, is accordingly, dismissed. All pending application(s) also stand disposed of.” Having heard learned counsel for the parties and gone through the record as well as in view of the findings recorded by the LPA Bench in its order dated 18.10.2024, no finding can be recorded against the respondent for there being any willful non-compliance of the order dated 28.09.2023 passed by the Writ Court on their part. In such circumstances, the present petition being devoid of merits is hereby dismissed. Rule discharged. Pending application(s), if any, shall also stand disposed of. 08.01.2025 (HARKESH MANUJA) Tejwinder JUDGE Whether speaking/reasoned Yes/No Whether Reportable Yes/No TEJWINDER SINGH 2025.01.10 16:04 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document