DAYA SHANKAR AND ORS. Vs. VICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Kulbhaskar Ashram Degree College a respondent in these petitions, is affiliated to the Kanpur University, Kanpur. The College imparts education in among other subjects, Agriculture. The various petitioners herein applied for admission in M.Sc. (Agriculture) Part I of the aforesaid College for the session 1980-81. Admission into the various Colleges affiliated to the Kanpur University is regulated by Sec. 28 of the U.P. State Universities Act. Sec. 28 of the said Act provides for an Admission Committee which supervises admission of candidates to the University and Colleges affiliated thereto. Sec. 28 (4) of the same Act lays down that the Admission Committee may issue directions as respects the criteria for admission into the various affiliated or associated Colleges and that such directions shall be binding on such Colleges.

(2.) In pursuance of Sec. 28 (4) the Admission Committee laid down certain norms governing the-policy of admission to various courses of studies in the Kulbhaskar Ashram College. These norms include the preparation of what has been described as Index for each of the candidate applying for admission in M.Sc. (Agriculture) Part I. The prescribed norms lay down the basis on which these indecia are prepared in respect of the various candidates applying for admission.

(3.) It is not disputed that pursuant to the directions issued by the Admission Committee and in consonance with the norms laid down by the said Committee a list of the candidates applying for admission to M.Sc. (Part I) in the aforesaid College was prepared showing the index of the petitioners and all others, 74 seats were available for being filed. In accordance with the index determined in respect of each of the candidates, the first 74 were selected for admission for the session 1980-81. The petitioners were, however, not among them and they had no grievance at that stage. However, it appears that some of the disappointed candidates (not the petitioners) resorted to hunger strike and other pressure tactics demanding admission notwithstanding the fact that they did not fall within the norms prescribed by law. The College appears to have yielded to that pressure and agreed to a limit another batch of 74 students for the next session i.e. 1981-82 from amongst the striking students or those who were otherwise pressurising the College to admit them. It appears that some correspondence ensued between the College and the University on the subject of admission another 74 candidates from amongst the applicants for admission. It is alleged in the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent College that by means of a letter dated 27-2-1981 the Vice Chancellor of the Kanpur University desired the Principal of the College to submit a list of all the candidates who had applied for admission to the aforesaid course for the year 1980-81. The College prepared a list and submitted it to the Vice-Chancellor of Kanpur University for approval. The University had desired the College to prepare the list in accordance with the norms prescribed for admission. In the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, it is alleged that the second list submitted by the College was not prepared according to the prescribed norms, but purely on grounds of pressure and correction exercised by the Students upon the College authorities. This assertion appears to be true as is clear from the affidavits filed in these petitions by the parties. The University has also committed that the said list was not in accordance with the norms. Indeed in paragraph 7 of the counter-affidavit filed of the College a confession has been made to the effect that the list was prepared under duress.