GYANODAYA SHIKSHAN PRACHARAK SAMITTS Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule with the consent of the parties made returnable forthwith. Heard the learned counsel for the parties.

(2.) The above Petitions have been filed against the 1st respondent seeking a direction to forthwith grant necessary permission and affiliation to the petitioners to start B.Ed. Colleges for conducting the B.Ed. Course to the petitioners, who are having Recognition Certificates from the NCTE. Since the above Petitions involve common question, they are heard and decided together. For the sake of convenience the facts in Writ Petition No. 5886 of 2009 would be referred to.

(3.) The petitioner No. 1 in the said Writ Petition No. 5886 of 2009 is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and also a trust registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950. The petitioner No. 1 claims to run several schools, high schools, arts, science, commerce college, including professional colleges such as BAMS, B.Sc. I.T. The petitioner No. 1 claims to be a minority institution being dedicated to the welfare of minority sector. The petitioner No. 1 applied to the respondent No. 3 for grant of Recognition Certificate to start B.Ed. course with annual intake of 100 candidates from the year 2009-2010. The petitioners claim to have complete infrastructure for starting the said course in the petitioner No. 2-Institution. The said application of the petitioner No. 1 was considered by the respondent No. 3 and vide its order dated 26-11-2008 the respondent No. 3 granted the said recognition certificate to the petitioner No. 1 to start B.Ed. course for the academic year 2009-2010. Insofar as Minority Educational Institutions are concerned, the Head Office of respondent No. 3 - NCTE, it appears, had issued a circular dated 3-2-2008 to all its Regional Branches including the Third respondent herein thereby issuing directions that the applications from Minority Educational Institution, which are formally declared as minority and who have submitted their applications to the Regional Committee before cut-of-date i.e. 31-10-2008, may be considered for the academic year 2009-2010, even from the States for which a ban has been imposed to consider the applications for the academic year 2009-2010 in view of the recommendations of the respective State Governments/Union Territories Administrations. It appears that similar Recognition Certificates have been issued to the petitioners in the companion Petitions.