RAVIKUMAR K.P. Vs. STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, THE MAHATMAGANDHI UNIVERSITY, REPRESENTED BY ITS REGISTRAR, THE SYNDICATE AND THE ACADEMIC COUNCIL, THE MAHATMA GANDHI UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is aggrieved by the rejection of his request to recognize the B.Sc. Visual Communication (Lateral Entry -Distance Education) of the Annamalai University as an equivalent graduate degree and the consequential rejection of his admission to the LL. B. (Three Year) Course. The petitioner, after completing Diploma from Institute of Printing Technology, enrolled himself in the Annamalai University and completed the B.Sc. Visual Communication course through Distance Education. His application for equivalence was placed before the Academic Council, which in turn was forwarded for opinion of the Chairman, Core Committee in Visual Arts. The Chairman having found the syllabus of the course offered by the Annamalai University, to be inadequate, opined that it does not satisfy the educational standards required for awarding a graduate degree of that subject. The Academic Council accepted the said opinion and the same was approved by the Syndicate.

(2.) THE contention of the petitioner is that the opinion was obtained from the Chairman of a College of Communication affiliated to the Mahatma Gandhi University and neither the Academic Council nor the Syndicate entered into any deliberations regarding the issue of equivalence. The learned counsel would also place on record the syllabus of the 2nd respondent -University for the very same course and the syllabus of the Annamalai University to impress upon the Court that the syllabi are in pari materia and entitled to be equated to the valid graduate degree conferred by the 2nd respondent -University. The contention that an Academic Chairman of a College affiliated to the 2nd respondent -University was consulted in the matter does not seem to be correct. Going by Exhibit P1, it is evident that the expert who issued Exhibit P3 was the Chairman of the Core Committee in Visual Arts, which is a Committee appointed by the University to assist the Academic Council. The mere issuance of an opinion in the letter -head of the College affiliated to the 2nd respondent -University does not render the opinion of the Chairman of the Core Committee as one issued by a total outsider. This Court has also perused Exhibit P3, where the expert had dilated briefly on the requirements for a syllabus in Visual Communication, which, according to him, is essentially a practical oriented course. The opinion that the syllabus is inadequate is based on the emphasis and thrust given to practical lessons in the concerned subject; which, according to the expert, is totally absent, especially when the course has been undertaken by way of distance learning. Exhibits P4 and P5 are respectively the Minutes of the Academic Council and the Syndicate, which indicated that the opinion of the expert was resolved to be accepted by the Academic Council and the said decision was approved by the Syndicate. The mere fact that the copy of the resolution sought for under the Right to Information Act does not indicate the deliberations made, will not at all render the decision illegal. In fact it is to be noticed that a Core Committee has been appointed only since the University thought it fit to examine the syllabus of the course offered by the Annamalai University by a subject expert. The expert having opined that the syllabus is inadequate and the graduate degree conferred by the Annamalai University in the said subject is not one entitled to be equated to a graduate degree conferred by the 2nd respondent -University, it is not for this Court to upset the same and import its own findings. Needless to say that this Court does not have the expertise to look into the syllabus and find reasons to equate the graduate degree of the two Universities; nor is it expected of this Court to make a roving enquiry to substitute its finding with that of the Chairman of the Core Committee, who is a subject expert as accepted by the Academic Council and the Syndicate.