( 1 ) COMMON ORDER :all these writ petitions are being dealt with under a common order since issue requires to be adjudicated in all the writ petitions is similar.

( 2 ) AS factual position being undisputed, a brief reference thereto would suffice: the All India Council for Technical education, New Delhi (for short "aicte ) issued a notification for consideration for applications for establishment of new technical institutions for the academic year 2003-2004. The said notification was published in the newspapers on 18-8:2002. As per the said notification the last date for submission of completed application forms was 30-9-2002. All such applications were required to be verified at concerned regional office on or before 15-11-2002 from the original documents along with certified english version in case of documents in regional languages. All the applicants had to enclose No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the concerned State Government for establishment of the technical institute for the academic year 2003-2004 as per the format given in the application form and made it clear that only such of those applicants who would produce all the documents in one lot on or before 15-11-2002, which was subsequently extended to 25-11-2002, will be invited for the presentation and other applications will be summarily rejected. It is also indicated in clause-7 that all those applicants who had submitted the application under AICTE advertisement of August, 2001 and have not been issued Letter of Intent (LOI) need not apply again. However, they were required to produce all the documents to the concerned regional office as indicated at Clause 5 including NOC from the State Government for establishment of new technical institution for 2003-2004. In response to above notification the petitioners made their applications seeking permission for establishment of technical institutions for the academic year 2003-2004. Some of the institutions, namely petitioners in W. P. Nos. 24668 of 2002, 1401, 1798 and 1799 of 2003 had already registered their applications for the academic year 2002- 2003 and their applications were transferred for the academic year 2003-2004. The state Government through its letter dated 9-11-2002 informed the AICTE that as on date there were 217 Engineering Colleges in the State with an intake of 62,750 and the availability of Engineering seats per 1. 00 lakhs population is 82. 86 and the State of a. P. is at number 2 position in the country, in respect of the number of Engineering colleges and the intake in the college making its policy on sanction of new private engineering Colleges and forwarded its recommendations to the AICTE which reads as under:"i am therefore, directed to request you not to sanction any new Engineering colleges in the State except in the uncovered revenue Divisions and the places identified in G. O. Ms. No. 501, dated 4-8-2001 which do not have Engineering Colleges (list enclosed) and also not to sanction colleges to the societies to whom NOCs were not issued by the State Government. I am further directed to request you to sanction additional seats, if any, may be considered in the interior rural colleges as per the norms of AICTE. "while the applications were pending scrutiny the AICTE through the notification dated 20-11-2002 amended the regulations, namely All India Council for Technical education (Grant of approval for starting new technical institutions introduction of courses or programmes and approval of intake capacity of seats for the courses or programmes) Regulations, 1994 (for short regulations, 1994 ) and 1997 by introducing clause 8 (4) (e ). The same was published in the Gazette on 25-11-2002.

( 3 ) IN view of the above, the present writ petitions have been filed to declare the insistence of NOC from the State government for establishing new technical institutions as illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional and to have the applications processed without reference to NOC from the State Gover

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