ASSOCIATION OF MANAGEMENT OF UNAIDED ENGINEERING COLLEGES Vs. ALL INDIA COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution the Petitioner seeks to challenge a stipulation contained in Appendix 10 of the Approval of Process Hand Book of the All India Council for Technical Education for the Academic Year 20122013. The stipulation provides for a mandatory subscription to eJournals as a condition for the grant of approval. The challenge of the Petitioner to this stipulation is on the following grounds:

(2.) The First Respondent has filed an affidavit of its Regional Officer in reply. In the affidavit it has been stated that for the forthcoming academic session 20122013, uploading of the Approval Process Hand book on the web portal of AICTE was carried out and made effective from 6 October 2011. According to the approval process as amended till date, each institute has to opt from different bouquets ' ' of ejournals available for its class. The requirement to have a particular bouquet of ejournals relevant to the discipline was the outcome of a comprehensive expert exercise conducted by a high powered committee consisting of five Vice Chancellors and three Directors, cutting across disciplines. The Council at a meeting held on 13 September 2011 accepted the Report which culminated in the policy decision reflected in Appendix 10 of the Approval Process Handbook. The AICTE has clarified that in order to ensure that the bouquets of eJournals are available on competitive terms to institutions, AICTE conducted negotiations on the best possible rates which have the option of unlimited download for unlimited number of users for member institutions. However, the AICTE has not made it compulsory that individual institutions should subscribe to eJournals from a particular vendor prescribed by AICTE or at a price prescribed by AICTE. The only requirement is that the institution has to be a subscriber for unlimited downloads for unlimited number of users amongst the options available from a specific programme.

(3.) Counsel appearing on behalf of the First Respondent has, during the course of submissions, reiterated what is stated in the affidavit and submitted that the AICTE has not transgressed the limitations on its powers under the Act.