Calcutta HC appoints administrator for La Martiniere schools

KOLKATA: Calcutta high court has appointed an administrator to look after the management of La Martiniere schools. Retired HC judge Tapan Kumar Dutta was appointed the administrator of the 182-year-old institute by the division bench of Justice I P Mukerji and Justice Md Nizamuddin. This is the first time that the schools will be managed by an administrator. Justice Dutta is a former student of the school.
The present board of governors, which was appointed on June 21, will act under the supervision of the administrator. All decisions of the board in school-related matters will be placed before the administrator for his approval, the division bench ruled. A single-judge bench of Justice Arindam Sinha had earlier ordered the board not to take any decision regarding school matters till the case was disposed of. The division bench has asked the single-judge bench to hear the matter now.

Four governors of the previous board — Anil Mukherji, Gerry Arathoon, Suchitra Guha and Anjali Das — were deposed from their positions by two ex-officio members of the board — bishop Paritosh Canning and priest of St Andrew’s Church, Swarup Bar.
In place of the deposed governors, four new members were inducted in the present board — moderator of the CNI Synod, P C Singh, secretary of the CNI, Alwan Masih, priest of St Paul’s Cathedral, Abir Adhikari, and principal of St James School, T H Ireland.
The deposed governors moved court against this. After the single bench order, asking the present board not to take any decision regarding the affairs of the school, it challenged the order in division bench, which heard the case on Thursday.
The four deposed governors were represented by counsel Joy Saha and Jishnu Saha, while Shaktinath Mukherjee and Joydeep Kar represented the present board.
At the time of delivering the judgment, the court observed that two warring groups were fighting to take charge of the school. Counsel of the deposed governors alleged that the present members of the board have no connection with the school while the deposed members were closely connected with it. They also argued that the CNI was gradually taking control of the school, while the actual guardian of the school was Calcutta High Court. Shaktinath Mukherjee disputed this and said that such allegations were untrue.
Calling this a significant victory, Anil Mukherji, one of the deposed governors, said: “Justice will prevail”. Secretary of the schools, Supriyo Dhar, said that he was happy that the board has once again been asked to function, though under the direction of the administrator. “We will abide by what the court says. This is an interim order,” Dhar said.
The Association of La Martiniere Alumni has expressed its, “deep concerns”, over the issue. In a written statement issued to the media, it prayed that the impasse is resolved and the lawsuits are expeditiously disposed off at the earliest.