ROHAN VIRANI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted. The present Civil Appeal has been filed by a batch of students from University of Mumbai to challenge the Judgement and Order dated 25.07.2019 passed by a division bench of the Bombay High Court in Writ Petition (ST) No. 20304 of 2019. The issue which arises is with respect to admission to the Post Graduate courses of MBA/MMS in the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies ("JBIMS") for the current academic year 20192020. The contest is based on the issue whether JBIMS is to be treated as an autonomous or non autonomous Department of the University of Mumbai for the current academic year.

(2.) JBIMS was established in 1965 as a Department of the University of Mumbai, and is one of the most prestigious and oldest institutions for management courses in the country. It has consistently been ranked amongst the top 10 business schools in India. JBIMS is well known for its distinguished and professional faculty members, including representatives from industry and academia.

(3.) The Appellants herein are 39 students who filed the Special Leave Petition against the aforesaid Judgment dated 25.07.2019 seeking special leave to appeal, since they were not impleaded before the High Court. These Appellants come from the University of Mumbai, and are seeking admission on the basis of JBIMS being a nonautonomous Institute. On 14.08.2019, this Court issued Notice to all the Respondents, and directed that status quo be maintained in the meanwhile. The matter was posted for final hearing on 28.08.2019.