The Hindu : HC stays policy decision, AICTE order

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

HC stays policy decision, AICTE order

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI DEC. 16. A State Government policy decision not to grant no-objection certificates for starting new engineering colleges or new MBA and MCA courses this year, and an All-India Council for Technical Education order rejecting applications not accompanied by the NOC, have been stayed by the Madras High Court.

Justice K. P. Sivasubramaniam granted the interim injunction on a batch of petitions filed by different trusts, which had applied for AICTE approval.

While the Government has taken a policy decision not to issue an NOC to any management for starting self-financing engineering colleges for 2003-04, the AICTE has communicated to many applicant-institutions that only those possessing NOCs would be considered for further processing. Stipulating that the NOC should have been obtained before November 25, 2002, the council convened a December 18 hearing committee meeting, at which eligible institutions would be accorded personal hearing.

Describing the policy decision as `patently arbitrary', the petitioners said: "So long as they complied with all necessary infrastructure requirements... the AICTE will be bound to proceed with the applications without insisting on the State Government NOC or the consent of the affiliating university. The AICTE is unjustified in merely adhering to the policy of the State Government despite having its own Regulation and Law declared by the Supreme Court".

The insistence on the NOC, which was purely in the nature of direction/recommendation, would deprive the rights of the petitioners to start new self-financing, unaided engineering colleges. Moreover, the policy decision of the Government could not bind the AICTE, which should consider applications on merit.

The petitioner-institutions would be completely disabled from attending the AICTE's personal hearing as they could obtain the State NOC.

Under these circumstances, the petitioners sought an interim order enabling them to appear for the personal hearing without being insisted on the NOC.

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