HARSHWARDHAN SHARMA Vs. UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who is pursuing LLB course has filed this Public Interest Litigation and prayed for the following relief:-

(2.) The Indian Institute of Technology, Indore was constituted by the Act of the Parliament, ie., the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred as 'the Act') and further amendment in 2012. Section 2 of the Act provides that certain institutes to the institutions of the national importance. IIT Indore is also a institute of National Importance and was established in Indore. Initially it was started in the IET Campus of Devi Ahilya University, Indore. Thereafter, it was shifted to the place allotted at Simrol, Khandwa Road.

(3.) According to the petitioner, the students community of IIT Indore has for the last one and half years continuously lodged complaints via official channels to the concerned authorities at IIT Indore regarding serious problems in quality of food as well as the high prices for food in the mess. To support the aforesaid paper cutting has been filed. It is also alleged that the institute has reduced the number of buses plying to and fro from the campus to parts of Indore city, which particularly impacts the female population and limits their productivity, which is against the spirit of the Justice Verma Committee (Bills of Rights, Part IV - Right to Secured Spaces), UGC and AICTE Regulation. The IIT Indore continues to hold classes and laboratories in buildings that are under construction, the status of the construction has been upto the mark. The students are forced to study in very pathetic condition. Several buildings of the IIT are operating without Fireman's lifts of Fire Safety Centre, which is required under the aegis of National Building Code of India, 2016. The Institution currently operates several committees without adequate student representation in violation of UGC Guidelines and Regulations on the matter. The administration in the utter violation of the UGC Guidelines has given proper representation to the students in different Committees. Due to delay in construction of the IIT building the students are forced to study in the under constructed building. As per news paper cutting there is mismanagement and irregularities in the IIT Indore and prayed for issuance of proper directions as prayed in para 11 of the writ petition.