JUDGMENT

Mrs. Sujata V. Manohar, J.-Leave granted.

2. The appellant, Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh has filed these appeals against the judgment and order of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh directing the appellant to implement the guidelines issued by the All-India Council for Technical Education and to make available seats to respondents 1 to 5 who are diploma holders for the academic session 1995-96 and to admit them in the second year of the four year degree course of the appellant-college. The appellant-college is a regional engineering college affiliated to the Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. It conducts a four year degree course in engineering. Students who have secured the requisite marks in 10+2 examination are admitted to the first year of the degree course. Respondents 1 to 5 have completed a diploma course of three years in engineering.

3. The All-India Council for Technical Education by a Gazette Notification dated July 11, 1992 published in the Gazette of the Government of India, issued guidelines for admission to an engineering degree programme under the powers conferred on it by Section 23(1) of the All-India Council for Technical Education Act, 1987. The guidelines, inter alia, provide for lateral entry in the engineering degree programme. Clause 5 of the guidelines states that although engineering diploma programmes are conceived of as terminal in nature, some flexibility has to be built in to enable the meritorious amongst the diploma holders to obtain engineering degrees. The clause provides that a student who has acquired a diploma in engineering through a minimum of three years of institutional study after tenth plus can be considered to be academically equivalent to a student who has passed the first year of a four year engineering degree programme for which the qualifying examination is at the twelfth plus level. The guidelines provide that lateral entry for diploma holders will be allowed at the second year, third semester level. It is, however, pointed out that at present students obtain a diploma through different programmes in different States. Such programmes have different structures and forms. In order to maintain uniformity, a common entrance examination at the State level seems essential. Further, it is necessary to select only meritorious students who have passed the diploma with a good academic record. Therefore, in order to be eligible to seek a lateral entry the candidate must have passed the diploma in engineering in the relevant branch with a minimum of 60% in the aggregate. Only candidates fulfilling this condition would be eligible for appearing in the entrance test meant for selection of diploma holding candidates for lateral entry to degree programmes. The guidelines further provide that the diploma holders admitted to degree programmes through lateral entry will have to be provided with opportunities for making up their deficiencies through remedial courses offered for this purpose and such courses must be completed by these students within the stipulated time. The guidelines, therefore, require a comprehensive scheme for admitting diploma holders to the degree programme in the second year.

4. This scheme for lateral entry has not yet been adopted in the State of Himachal Pradesh or by the appellant-college. The appellant has pointed out that a meeting of the heads of the teaching departments who are the members of the board of studies was called on 13th of September, 1995 at the college to consider the lateral entry scheme and it was found that there are at least nine courses which the diploma holders do not study during their three year diploma course which will have to be provided to the diploma holders. These courses are applied in nature and form a pre-requisite for study at the advance level of a professional four year degree course. These courses are taken in the first year of the degree course. The diploma holders will, therefore, have to do the