ORDER : 1. Heard Mr. A.R. Bhuiya, learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. J. Abedin, learned Standing Counsel, Secondary Education Department, for the respondent Nos. 1 and 2, Mr. M.U. Mondal, learned counsel for the respondent No. 3 and Mr. J. Islam, learned counsel for the respondent No. 4. 2. By filing this petition the petitioner No. 2 is seeking for a writ of Quo-Warranto as regards the validity of the appointment of the private respondent No. 3 as the Chairman of the State Madrassa Education Board. It has been submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioners that the rules as framed by the authorities, namely, Madrassa Education to the Assam Education Department Rules and Orders, as amended in 2013 and notified vide order dated 14.03.2013 provide that the Chairman of the State Madrassa Education Board, Assam, shall be an Eminent Academician to be nominated by the State Government. It has been submitted that the private respondent No. 3 is not an eminent academician within the meaning of the rules as he has no expertise in the field of Islamic Education and he is merely an Associate Professor in the discipline of Political Science and as such, he is not eminently qualified to hold the post of Chairman of the State Madrassa Education Board and accordingly, it has been submitted that the appointment of the private respondent No. 3 as the Chairman of the State Madrassa Education Board, Assam is illegal and liable to be set-aside. 3. The respondent No. 3 has filed the affidavit-in-opposition in which it has been claimed that the respondent No. 3 is indeed an eminent academician as contemplated under the rules and as such, his appointment is not liable to be interfered by this Court. 4. Mr. M.U. Mondal, learned counsel appearing for the respondent No. 3 relying on the affidavit-in-opposition filed by the respondent No. 3 has raised the issue of maintainability of the writ petition. He has also submitted that the petitioner is an eminent academician as can be seen from the Bio-Data which has been annexed to the affidavit-in-opposition filed by him. It has been further submitted that it is nowhere mentioned that an eminent academician has to be renowned in the field of Islamic Education and it will suffice if a person is an eminent academician in any field. It has been further submitted that it is nowhere mentioned that an eminent academician has to be renowned in the field of Islamic Education and it will suffice if a person is an eminent academician in any field. It has been submitted that nothing has been mentioned in the rules defining the expression "eminent academician." Accordingly, it has been submitted that it cannot be said that a person who is not renowned in Islamic Education cannot hold the post of Chairman of the State Madrassa Education Board, if he is renowned in other academic field. 5. Heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the materials available on record. 6. In order to appreciate the issue raised in this petition, it may be necessary to reproduce the relevant provision of the rules as notified on 14.03.2014 as below: 2. The State Madrassa Education Board, Assam, shall be constituted by the State Government with not more than fifteen members which shall include:- (i) An eminent academician to be nominated by the State Government Chairman (ii) The Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam, Education Department or his nominee not below a rank of Joint Secretary of the Department Vice-Chairman (iii) The Director of Madrassa Education, Assam Member-Secretary (iv) The Director of Higher Education, Assam Member (v) The Director of Secondary Education, Assam Member (vi) The Director of Elementary Education, Assam Member (vii) The Director of SCERT, Assam Member (viii) The Chairman of the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council Member (ix) The Chairman of the Board of Secondary Education Member (x) The Deputy Director of Madrassa Education, Assam Member (xi) One Principal of Title Madrassa/Arabic College to be nominated by the Director of Madrassa Education Member (xii) One Professor of Arabic/Persian Department of any of the recognized Universities in the State of Assam to be nominated by the Director of Higher Education Member (xiii) One superintended of a Senior Madrassa to be nominated by the Director of Madrassa Education Member (xiv) The Board shall have the power to co-opt not more than two members from amongst the distinguished educationist of the State. The non-official members of the Board may be paid Travelling and Daily Allowance at rate as admissible to Class-I officers of the State Government for attending meeting of the Board Member Explanation: For the purpose of this rule an eminent person will mean and include a renowned educationist in Islamic education, such as, a retired Professor of Arabic/Urdu of Gauhati University or Dibrugarh University or an Islamic Scholar of repute or must be a retired Director of Education or Vice Chancellor of any University of the State. 7. In Rule 2 of the Madrassa Education to the Assam Education Department Rules and Orders referred to above, there is an "explanation" which states that for the purpose of the rule an eminent person will mean and include a renowned educationist in Islamic Education, such as, a retired Professor of Arabic/Urdu of Gauhati University or Dibrugarh University or an Islamic Scholar of repute etc or must be a retired Director of any Education or Vice-Chancellor of any University of the State. Though the expression 'eminent academician' has not been clearly defined under the Rules as to who can be considered to be an eminent academician, a close reading of the explanation would indicate that the rule making authorities would consider an "eminent academician" to be an eminent person who may be (i) a renowned educationist in Islamic Education, or (ii) a retired Professor of Arabic/Urdu of Gauhati University or Dibrugarh University, or (iii) an Islamic Scholar of repute, or (iv) a retired Director of Education or (v) Vice Chancellor of any University of the State. 8. From the above what is seen is that the eminency of the person has to be with reference to the Islamic Education. However, if a person is a Retired Director of Education or Vice Chancellor of any University of the State, there is no such requirement of being a renowned person in Islamic Education stipulated. In other words, irrespective of the academic discipline, a retired Director of Education or Vice Chancellor of any University would be also deemed to be an eminent person. Otherwise, any other person, who claims to be an eminent person must have experience relating to Islamic Education, such as, retired professor of Arabic/Urdu or an Islamic Scholar in Urdu. The rule making authorities seem to have meant "eminent academician" to be an eminent person as defined in the explanation. 9. Otherwise, any other person, who claims to be an eminent person must have experience relating to Islamic Education, such as, retired professor of Arabic/Urdu or an Islamic Scholar in Urdu. The rule making authorities seem to have meant "eminent academician" to be an eminent person as defined in the explanation. 9. In the present case admittedly, the respondent No. 3 is not a retired Director of Education nor a Vice Chancellor of any University of the State but merely an Associate Professor in Political Science of a College and as such, the case of the respondent No. 3 does not come under the aforesaid category of persons who may be deemed to be an eminent person, thus not an eminent academician, having experience in Islamic Education as indicated in the "Explanation." The "Explanation" is merely an explanation and not a definition of the expression of eminent academician, and it has merely described who an eminent person is. This Court is of the opinion that the rules contemplate that to be an eminent academician he must have specialization in Islamic Education, for the reason that he is going to be the Chairman of the State Madrassa Education Board, Assam, which admittedly relates to Islamic Education, though may not be exclusively for Islamic Study. Though the State Madrassa Education Board may also relate to activities which are non-Islamic and involve other secular knowledge/discipline of life, nevertheless, Islamic Education is an important and integral part of such an education system which is to be looked after by the said Board. 10. In that context, this Court is of the opinion that the eminency referred to in the expression "eminent academician" has to have some reference to Islamic Study, except for retired Director or the Vice Chancellor of the University as specifically mentioned under the rules. 11. This Court has gone through the entire Bio-data as annexed by the respondent No. 3 in this petition and there is no reference of the respondent No. 3 having any experience in Islamic study except for a mere reference that the respondent No. 3 had translated English, Bengali and Urdu stories in Assamese. It is not mentioned anywhere that the said Urdu stories relate to Islamic study or these relate to Islamic Education which is the prerequisite requirement under the Rules. It is not mentioned anywhere that the said Urdu stories relate to Islamic study or these relate to Islamic Education which is the prerequisite requirement under the Rules. This Court has also gone through the number of books which have been published by the respondent No. 3 and the literary magazine in which he was involved along with the short stories he has published and the national and International seminars, conferences and workshops he had participated. However, in any of these activities relied on by the respondent No. 3 there is no reference at all to any Islamic study or Islamic Education. Therefore, this Court would hold that even though the respondent No. 3 may be an eminent academician in his own field of Political Science and other related subjects, he cannot be said to be an eminent scholar having experience in Islamic Education for the purpose of the aforesaid rules. 12. Accordingly, this Court is of the view that the respondent No. 3 does not fulfill the qualification for being appointed as the Chairman of the State Madrassa Education Board, Assam. 13. For the reasons discussed above, the petition is allowed. The impugned appointment order dated 23.02.2018 of the respondent No. 3 is set aside. The respondent authorities are directed to appoint a new Chairman of the State Madrassa Education Board, Assam by appointing any such eminent academician as contemplated under the aforesaid rules.