MALVIKA FOUNDATION Vs. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this Writ Petition, the Petitioners seek a Mandamus cancelling and setting aside the Notice dated 30- 04-2015 bearing Ref. No.55/DIR(HE)/HRDD and letter Ref. No.73/DIR(HE)/HRDD dated 08-05-2015 [Annexure P1 (Colly)] and any other ancillary proceedings which may have been initiated by the Respondents pursuant to the dissolution of the Petitioner No.2, and to direct the Respondents to hand over control of Petitioner No.2 to the Petitioner No.1.

(2.) The facts averred are that, the Petitioner is a registered Charitable Trust and is the Sponsoring Body of the Petitioner No.2, a Private University set up through the Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management University, Sikkim Act, 2006 (in short "the Act of 2006"), vide a Notification dated 26-05-2006 (Annexure P3), with the object, inter alia, of imparting education in regular and Distance Mode. The Petitioner No.2 (for brevity "EIILMU") commenced Courses in B.Tech, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Business Administration, bachelor of Computer Application, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration and functioned as a full- fledged University from Jorethang, South Sikkim. Its main Campus was at Malbassey, Budang, Soreng, West Sikkim, duly inspected and approved by the UGC in July, 2008. Various Authorities of the EIILMU were also constituted as per Section 21 (Board of Management) and Section 22 (Academic Council) of the said Act, while the Respondents were represented through its nominees in the Board of Governors of the Petitioner No.2.

(3.) On 01-09-2012, a suo motu FIR bearing No.51/2012 was registered against the Officials of the Petitioner No.2 and others under Section 406/420/467/ 120B/34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short "IPC") by the Sikkim Police at Jorethang P.S. on grounds that the Petitioner had violated the UGC and Distant Education Council (DEC) norms as well as provisions of its own Act. Charge-Sheet in this matter was filed and is pending before the Court of the Learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, South and West, at Namchi. A second FIR No.92 of 2013, on the same allegations, was registered at the Sadar Police Station against the Officials of the Petitioner No.2 which was later quashed by the Orders of this Court dated 04-06-2013 in Crl. Misc. Case No.12 of 2013. Meanwhile, the Sikkim Police also referred the matter to the Enforcement Directorate for further investigation and on 19-02-2014, an ECIR Case was registered under Sections 420/467 and 120B of the IPC against the Officials of the Petitioner No.2 and others. Consequently, the Enforcement Directorate attached the moneys of the Petitioner No.2 in its various Bank Accounts leading to acute financial crisis, inability to pay the salary of its staff or to meet its daily expenses and a chaotic situation emanated where its staff and faculty were threatened, followed by mass resignations, disruption of academic activities and violence within the Campus, resulting in physical assault of the guards and a few outstation employees. The students boycotted the end semester Examinations despite pleas by the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar of the Petitioner No.2. Resultantly, the Petitioners were constrained to request the Respondents to take over the EIILMU, by filing Writ Petition, viz., WP(C) No.01 of 2015 before this Court, which was subsequently withdrawn, the Petitioners having decided to make an attempt to revive the Petitioner No.2. The Respondents were informed of this vide letter dated 10-03-2015 and advertisements were placed in local newspapers for appointment of Registrar and Vice Chancellor. Despite knowledge of the intention and the efforts of the Petitioner No.2, the Respondents in utter disregard of the statutory provisions of the Act of 2006 and in complete violation of Section 47(2) and (3) approved the dissolution of the Petitioner No.2 on 28-04-2015 communicated to the Petitioners vide letter dated 08-05- 2015. The official website of the Respondent No.1 revealed the public Notice dated 30-04-2015.