GOVERNMENT MOHINDRA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ANR Vs. ALL INDIA COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION & ORS

Supreme Court of India (Division Bench (DB)- Two Judge)

Writ Petition (Civil), 404 of 2015, Judgment Date: Aug 10, 2015

                                                              NON-REPORTABLE
                    IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
                     CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

                  WRIT PETITION (C) NO. 404 OF 2015


Government Mohindra Instt. of
Information Technology & Anr.                              ... Petitioner(s)

                                 VS.

All India Council For Technical
Education & Ors.                                           ... Respondent(s)



                          J U D G M E N T



ANIL R. DAVE, J.


1 1.  The Petitioner  is  a  Government  college  run  by  Higher  Education
Institute of Society which was established in the  year  1875  and  for  the
last 140 years it is imparting education to the students  of  the  State  of
Punjab.


2.    The Petitioner-College wanted to set up a new technical institute  for
running MCA Course  from  the  academic  year  2015-16  and  therefore,  had
submitted an application to Respondent No.1.  The said application had  been
considered by Respondent No.1  and  after  certain  instructions  and  doing
necessary formalities, the said application had been rejected on 7th  April,
2015.


3.    Being aggrieved by the order of rejection dated 7th April,  2015,  the
Petitioner-College had filed an appeal against the  said  order  before  the
Standing Appellate Committee of Respondent  No.1.   The  Standing  Appellate
Committee had heard a representative of  the  Petitioner-  College  on  14th
April, 2015 and at that time, the Petitioner-College had also been  informed
about some deficiencies which have been  found  at  the  time  of   physical
inspection of the  Petitioner-College.  After affording  a  hearing  to  the
Petitioner-College, a letter dated 24th April, 2015 had  been  addressed  to
the Standing  Appellate  Committee  pointing  out  the  deficiencies  to  be
removed by the  Petitioner-College.  It is  an  admitted  fact  that  letter
dated 24th April, 2015, whereby the Standing Appellate  Committee  had  been
informed about the removal of deficiencies, had  not  been  brought  to  the
notice of the Standing Appellate Committee when it had convened its  meeting
on 27th April, 2015 and ultimately,  on  30th  April,  2015  a  final  order
rejecting application for initiation of a new course had been passed by  the
Standing Appellate Committee.


4.    The above referred  facts  have  not  been  disputed  by  the  learned
counsel appearing for Respondent No.1, whose function is to grant  necessary
permission for starting a new MCA course.


5.    The learned  counsel  appearing  for  the   Petitioner-   College  has
mainly submitted that  had  the  Standing  Appellate  Court  considered  the
contents of the letter dated 24th  April,  2015,  possibly  the  application
submitted for starting a new course would not have been rejected.


6.    We have considered the facts of the case in  the  light  of  the  fact
that  the  Petitioner-College  is  a  Government  College  which  had   been
established in the State of   Punjab and has been  imparting  education  for
the last 140 years.  The said institute is the  oldest  institute  in    the
State of of Punjab having a very good reputation  and  it  is  not  disputed
that all deficiencies, which  had  been  pointed  out  to  the   Petitioner-
College,  had  been  substantially  removed  and  in  our  opinion,  for   a
negligible defect, which the learned counsel appearing  for Respondent  No.1
has pointed out to us, there was no reason  for  rejecting  the  application
submitted by the  Petitioner-College.


7.    In our opinion, by not placing the letter of  the   Petitioner-College
dated 24th April, 2015 before the Standing  Appellate  Committee  which  had
convened its meeting on 27th April, 2015, the principles of natural  justice
had been violated and therefore, the final  order  dated  30th  April,  2015
passed by the Standing Appellate Committee of Respondent  No.1  deserves  to
be quashed and set aside.


8.    In view of the fact  that  the  deficiencies  have  been  removed,  we
direct Respondent No.1 to reconsider the   case  of  the  Petitioner-College
as soon as possible, especially, in view of the fact that 15th August,  2015
is the last date  for  admitting  the  students  to  the  course  which  the
Petitioner-College is going to initiate.


9.    The final decision which might be taken by  Respondent No.1  shall  be
communicated  to  the   Petitioner-College  immediately  and  if  the  final
decision is taken in  favour  of  the   Petitioner-College,  the  Petitioner
shall be permitted to give admission to 60 students to MCA course  which  it
proposes to commence and Respondent No.3-University is also directed  to  do
the needful to grant the necessary  permission  to  the   Petitioner-College
with regard to initiation of new course.


10.   For the afore-stated reasons, looking at the  peculiar  facts  of  the
case, we allow this petition and grant the relief, as  prayed  for,  in  the
writ petition to the effect that the letters of rejection dated  7th  April,
2015 and 30th April, 2015 issued by Respondent No.1,  are  quashed  and  set
aside so that needful can be done for grant of approval to  the  Petitioner-
College for setting  up a new technical institute to run MCA course with  an
intake of 60  students  for  academic  session  2015-16.     Upon  necessary
permission  being  granted,  Respondent    No.3-University  is  directed  to
consider grant of affiliation to the Petitioner-College in  respect  of  MCA
course, which it proposes to initiate from academic year 2015-16.




                                                            ..............J.
                                                              [ANIL R. DAVE]



                                                            ..............J.
                                                             [KURIAN JOSEPH]
New Delhi;
10th August, 2015.