MANAGER ST ALBERTS COLLEGE Vs. MAHATMA GANDHI UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Whether the rejection of the application preferred by the petitioner college for affiliation to the Post-graduate Course in M.Sc. Space Science & Technology, on the grounds stated in Ext. P-7 [Exhibits are being referred to in the order & chronology as given in W.P.(C) 32003 of 2008] is correct or not, is the basic issue involved in these writ petitions.

(2.) The petitioner college is stated as an institution of repute, started in the year 1946; with affiliation originally secured from the Madras University. Subsequently, after formation of the Kerala University, the affiliation was automatically shifted to the said University and later in 1983, when the respondent University came into existence, the affiliation was in turn transferred automatically to the above University. The petitioner college is stated as having a wide range of subjects/courses with all necessary infrastructure, competent teaching & non-teaching staff and is running nine post-graduate courses, out of which, six are in the Science subjects.

(3.) It is the case of the petitioner college that, the then Chairman of the ISRO Dr. Madhavan Nair, when visited the college in the year 2005, in connection with delivery of a lecture on the subject "10 point Development Mission for Kerala" made a proposal to start a new course in the field of Space Science and Technology, prompting that, it will lead to developing quality human resources in this emerging era, when the space research in India required more man-power and that earnest efforts were being made by all concerned in the field to get the youngsters interested in the field. It was accordingly that the matter was taken serious note of by the authorities of the college and decided to start a post-graduate degree course in M.Sc. Space Science and Technology, particularly, in view of enviable infrastructure already available in the college in connection with M.Sc. Physics, which forms the core subject for the above specialized course, as well.