TAWI EDUCATIONAL TRUST Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Section 103 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, is for a writ of certiorari quashing the provisions of the Jammu & Kashmir Private Colleges (Regulation and Control) Act, 2002 and the rules framed under the said Act vide SRO 339 of 2005, being ultra vires of the Constitution or in the alternative, the rules framed vide aforementioned SRO are sought not to be made applicable to the Engineering Colleges. Writ of certiorari is also sought quashing Cabinet decision dt. 14th of Sept98 being irrational, arbitrary and illegal. Direction is also sought in the nature of mandamus commanding upon the Board of Professional Entrance Examination to notify the seats pertaining to the petitioner college for the purposes of counselling and allotment of students for the Session 2008 -09, with a further writ of mandamus commanding upon respondent State to consider the case of the petitioner for grant of permission to run the engineering college in view of the approval granted by the AICTE.

(2.) THE facts for the disposal of this petition be noticed as under: Petitioner Trust (hereinafter referred to as the Trust) who got itself registered in the year 1995, decided to set up an engineering college under the name of Yogananda College of Engineering and Technology at Gurha Brahmana, Patoli, Akhnoor Road, Jammu. A project report in this regard was prepared by the Trust and submitted to the Secretary, Higher & Technical Education Department for issuance of a No Objection Certificate/permission for setting up the said college, in the year 2002, 2003 and 2004. No consideration, however, was done in this regard by the respondent State.

(3.) IT is further stated in the writ petition that uptil 2004, the Regulations framed under All India Council for Technical Education Act, 1987 (here -in -after referred to as the Act of 1987), envisaged obtaining a No Objection Certificate from the concerned State Government before the AICTE could consider for grant of approval for setting up the technical institute but in the year 2006, the Regulations under the Act of 1987 were modified and in terms of Regulation 2.6.2, no separate No Objection Certificate was required to be submitted to the AICTE for setting up the institute. It is submitted that in terms of the aforementioned Regulations, the Trust again submitted its proposal to the AICTE on 27th of March07. A copy of the said proposal was forwarded by the AICTE to the respondent State for seeking its views on 14th of Jan08, and the respondent State was requested to submit its views within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of the proposal. It is stated that as no objection was raised by the State Government within the aforementioned period, the AICTE directed the Trust to appear before its Hearing Committee in terms of Regulation 2.6.3 on 25th of Feb08. After having recorded its satisfaction on the proposal submitted by the Trust, the Trust was issued a Letter of Intent dt. 25th of Feb08, in terms of which some formalities were required to be completed. It is stated that in pursuance to the said Letter of Intent, the Trust invested a huge amount of Rs. Three crores for raising infrastructure and completing other requirements. An inspection team of AICTE thereafter visited the premises and conducted the on -spot inspection alongwith one nominated member by the State Government who was the Principal, Government College of Engineering and Technology, Jammu, who acted as an expert member of the State Government/University to examine the preparedness of the Institution for imparting quality education as per the norms, standards and conditions prescribed by the AICTE for the year 2008 -09. It is stated that the said Committee after inspecting the premises, recommended the case of the Trust for grant of approval of the State Government for running the said Institute. The further fact which is pointed out is that in terms of the Letter of Intent issued by the AICTE, an amount of Rs. 35 lacs was deposited in the shape of FDR in the joint account of the Trust and Regional Officer, AICTE, Chandigarh, for a period of eight years and also an inspection fee of Rs. 50,000/ - was deposited by the Trust.