MUSALIAR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above batch of appeals are filed by the petitioners in the writ petitions challenging the judgment of the learned Single Judge whereby the learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petitions holding that the prospectus issued by the Director of Technical Education, Thiruvananthapuram dated 03.07.2020 for the academic year 2020- 2021, in regard to Lateral Entry (LE) Scheme intended to admit meritorious Diploma / D. Voc / B.Sc holders to the 3rd semester of the B. Tech courses, to acquire a degree in Engineering was right and in accordance with law. Some of the writ petitions were filed by the students of Self financing Colleges and the rest of the writ petitions were filed by the Management of the Self-Financing Colleges.

(2.) The sum and substance of the basic contentions advanced are typical in nature and therefore separate narration of facts are not required. However, respective counsel have addressed their arguments, relying upon the grounds raised in their writ appeals, which would be dealt with while considering the arguments advanced.

(3.) To put it succinctly, the fundamental aspect that persuaded the appellants to file the writ petitions was the intimations issued by the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, canceling the registration of the students admitted in the respective institutes under Lateral Entry Scheme, since they were not included in the rank list prepared by the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations, and thereby requested the Private Self-Financing Institutions to ensure that those students do not attend the B. Tech S3 (R) Dec 2020 (2019 scheme) exam scheduled to commence on 15th April 2021. Even though a learned Single Judge of this Court had granted interim order permitting the students to participate in the said examination, the examinations were postponed by the University due to the emergent situations prevailing on account of the Covid - 19 pandemic.