ANUBANDHA ANAND Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition is filed by the petitioner seeking the following relief: -

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that he had pursued B.S. (Mechanical Engineering) Degree Programme from International Centre for Applied Sciences (ICAS), Manipal. International Centre for Applied Sciences (ICAS), Manipal is affiliated to Manipal Academy for Higher Education and offers full time B.S. (Mechanical Engineering) Degree Programme with a provision for credit transfer to any foreign universities at the end of second year of the studies. The petitioner passed out his class 12th and thereafter, joined International Centre for Applied Sciences (ICAS), a unit of Manipal University. The petitioner was issued a migration certificate dated 23.07.2015 by ICAS certifying that the petitioner had partly completed successfully the first two years of the four year course in B.S. (Mechanical Engineering) during the academic period 2013-2015. The petitioner thereafter enrolled for two years at the University of Illinois, Chicago. The petitioner was granted a certificate of admission dated 23.04.2015 by the University of Illinois. After successful completion of the two years of studies at the said University of Illinois, the petitioner was granted a degree of Bachelor of Sciences in Mechanical Engineering by the University of Illinois, Chicago on 17.12.2017. The World Education Services (WES) granted the equivalence certificate dated 15.03.2019 to the petitioner stating that the Bachelor of Science awarded by the University of Illinois at Chicago in Mechanical Engineering is equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree (Four years).

(3.) The petitioner on 31.08.2019 applied to the Association of Indian Universities for grant of equivalence certificate. The said Association of Indian Universities/Respondent No.2 is registered as a society and is an association of Indian Universities. Being the apex body of the universities in the country, it has been serving its member universities by facilitating equivalence of degrees awarded by foreign universities to help people with foreign degrees to pursue higher studies in Indian Universities. The said respondent No.2 is the only body in India which is recognised to grant equivalence of degrees awarded by foreign universities. The respondent No.1 MHRD/UOI by a letter dated 13.03.1995 has issued a notification stating that those foreign qualifications which are recognised/equated by respondent No.2 are treated as recognised for the purpose of employment to post and services under the Central Government. Respondent No.2 is the only body in India which has the power and authority to provide the equivalence certificate in India for the corresponding degrees provided by any foreign university.