RAI UNIVERSITY Vs. PRAPTI PODDAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this common order we shall dispose of above noted petitions as question of law and facts involved in these cases are identical.

(2.) BRIEF facts are that Petitioners University/O.Ps was established as a deemed university under the Chattisgarh Niji Kshetra Vishvavidhayalaya Adhiniyam No. 2 of 2002 vide notification No. F.73-64/2003/HE38, issued on 30.5.2003 under sub-section (1) of Section 5 of the Act. This university offered 340 courses in 15 disciplines at 21 centres across the country. Petitioner No. 1 is one of such campuses. After coming across the advertisement put in by the petitioners, respondents took admissions in MBA and B.Tech.(Biotechnology) courses at Dwarka Campus(Petitioner No.1) in the year 2004 and paid the various fees. At the time of the admission a PIL being Writ Petition(Civil) No. 19 of 2004 alongwith a bunch of other such petitions was pending before the Supreme Court for adjudication on the point whether various Universities including the University in question were validly constituted or not. Pendency of such litigation was never disclosed by the petitioners to the respondents and other students. These Writ Petitions were decided by the Supreme Court vide judgment dated 11.2.2005, which declared sections 5 and 6 of Chattisgarh Niji Kshetra Vishvavidhayalaya Adhiniyam No. 2 of 2002 as ultra vires and hence the Universities including the University herein ceased to exist. In order to protect the interest of students Supreme Court ordered as under:-

(3.) WE have heard learned counsel for the petitioners as well as those respondents who have appeared in person.