BADDAM PRABHAVATHI Vs. GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Sine the common questions of law and fact arise in these writ petitions, they were heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

(2.) The matters are before us in view of the reference made by the Division Bench, observing: After hearing the learned Counsel for the parties at length we are of the view that the issues in these Writ Petitions are of public importance and should be decided by a larger Bench for an authoritative pronouncement. Section 4 of A.P. Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Act, 1983 (for short 'the Act') is of prime importance in order to come to the right conclusions. There has already been an occasion of interpreting Section 4 of the Act by a Division Bench of this Court in Sultan-Ul-Uloom Educational Society v. Govt. of A.P. [1984 (1) APLJ 192]. We are of the prima facie view that under Section 4 of the Act right to admit the students into Minority Institutions has not been taken away by the State from the management of the institutions. However, the judgment of the Division Bench is contrary to this view. Therefore, for this reason also we make a reference to a larger Bench for hearing these matters. The matter be placed before the Hon'ble Chief Justice for constitution of appropriate Bench.

(3.) The Division Bench, keeping in view the submissions made by the parties and taking into consideration that admissions are due, also passed an order modifying the earlier orders passed by the Court by way of interim measure. The same reads thus: In the arguments advanced by the Counsel two diametrically opposed views have been taken. Minority institutions want that they should be free to select the candidates to be admitted in their institutions and according to Mr. Pratap Reddy, Senior Counsel admission of students to the Minority Institutions is part of management which guaranteed under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution without any restrictions. On the other hand, the learned Additional Advocate General submits that though admissions is part of the management but that does not mean that regulations cannot be framed by the State to ensure that the best candidates available get admitted to the Colleges on the basis of merit alone and no extraneous circumstances are taken into consideration except the merit while admitting the students to the colleges. He further submits that the competitive examination is conducted only to assess the relevant merit of the prospective candidates and in terms of various G.Os. the Government is only trying to ensure that best amongst the Minority candidates are admitted to the Minority Institutions and if there are any vacancies left they are given to the best of non-minority candidates. That all the Minority institutions shall issue advertisements inviting applications from the prospective candidates to be admitted in their institutions. Minority as well as non- minority candidates shall be eligible to apply. The management of Colleges shall ensure that the application forms are made available at the office of the Colleges as well as at the office of the concerned District Education Officer. They shall also mention in the advertisement that the applications shall be received at the respective Colleges and also at the office of the concerned District Education Officer. If any application is received by the D.E.O., he shall immediately transmit it to the College concerned. These applications shall be considered by the institutions to which these applications are made and the candidates shall be granted admissions on the basis of merit assessed on the basis of the rank secured by them in the Common Entrance examination. The first priority shall be given to the Minority candidates belonging to such community for which such institution is established and after the list of Minority candidates is exhausted the candidates from other communities shall also be admitted on the basis of their inter-se merit in the Common Entrance examination. This arrangement shall apply only to the admissions pertaining to the B.Ed., for the present academic year i.e., 2001-2002.