MADURAI
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday imposed exemplary cost of ₹5 lakh on an educational trust after it went ahead with admission of students despite approval not being granted for the academic year 2014-15.
Justice V. Parthiban observed that though the educational trust was not granted approval to fill up seats for 2014-15, it went ahead with the admission after obtaining a stay from the court. The court said the only silver lining in the case was that deficiencies in the college, for which approval to admit students was denied, were quickly rectified following which approval was granted for academic year 2015-16.
The court directed the Director of Technical Education to issue certificates to the students of 2014-15, who have now completed the course.
However, as the college had acted in the guise of the interim order against norms fixed by the competent authority, the court imposed exemplary cost. It directed the educational trust to pay ₹3 lakh to the High Court Legal Services Authority and ₹2 lakh to Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai within two weeks.
The court was hearing the case of Union Christian Education and Charitable Trust in Kanniyakumari which sought a direction for issuance of diploma certificates to its students and to quash the denial of approval for admission for academic year 2014-15.
In 2014, a show cause notice was issued to the college by the All India Council for Technical Education seeking explanation on certain deficiencies. Since the deficiencies were not rectified, a ‘no admission status’ was issued for the academic year 2014-15.
But the trust moved the High Court Bench, obtained a stay order and subsequently filled the seats for the said academic year. It also acted immediately to address the deficiencies. Following this, it was granted approval to admit students for the next academic year.
