Back
Karnataka High Court
Judges : Rama Jois
DR.T.M.A.PAI FOUNDATION - Appellant
Versus
STATE OF KARNATAKA - Respondent
W. P. 12597 Of 1984
Decided On : 09/10/1984
Advocates Appeared :
M.R.ACHAR, R.N.NARASIMHA MURTHY, S.G.SUNDARASWAMY
Article 30 - Constitutional Validity of Karnataka Educational Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Act, 1984 - Section 3, 4, 5 - Summary of Acts and Sections
Fact of the Case:
The petitioners challenged the constitutional validity of the Karnataka Educational Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Act, 1984 and the orders made thereunder. The 1st petitioner is Dr. T. M. A. Pai Foundation, a trust registered under the Trusts Act, and the 2nd petitioner is Manipal Institute of Technology, an educational institution owned and administered by the 1st petitioner trust. The petitioners claimed that the Act violated Article 30 of the Constitution, which confers a fundamental right on linguistic and religious minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the petitioners were entitled to the protection of Article 30 of the Constitution as the 2nd petitioner-Engineering College was established and administered by Konkanis, who are a linguistic minority in the State. The court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 3 of the Act, which prohibits the collection of capitation fee for admission, and declared certain provisions of Sections 4 and 5 as void for offending Articles 14, 30, and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution. The court also issued a writ in the nature of Mandamus to the respondents not to enforce the void provisions against the petitioners.
Issues: The issues before the court were whether the petitioners were entitled to the protection of Article 30 of the Constitution and whether the provisions of the Act were unconstitutional being inconsistent with Article 30.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the expression 'established' in Article 30 includes not only the founding of an institution but also securing the ownership of an already founded institution, which means reestablishment of the institution under the new management and owner. The court also emphasized that the State can impose regulatory measures to promote the efficiency and excellence of educational standards and issue guidelines for ensuring the security of the services of the teachers or other employees of the institutions.
Final Decision: The court dismissed the challenge to the constitutional validity of Section 3 of the Act, declared certain provisions of Sections 4 and 5 as void, and issued a writ in the nature of Mandamus to the respondents not to enforce the void provisions against the petitioners.
( 1 ) IN this Petition, the Petitioners have challenged the constitutional validity of the Karnataka educational Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Act, 1984 ('the Act' for short) and the orders made there under.
( 2 ) THE facts of the case, in brief, are as follows : The 1st Petitioner is Dr. T. M. A. Pai Foundation, which is a trust registered under the Trusts Act. The 2nd Petitioner is Manipal Institute of technology, which is an educational institution, owned and administered by the 1st Petitioner trust. Petitioners 3 to 6 are the trustees. An institution called 'the Academy of General education' was founded by Dr. T. M. A. Pai in the year 1942. It was registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act. At that point of time, Manipal, the place at which the Academy was founded was in the former State of Madras. After reorganisation of States, it has become part of the new State of Karnataka. Para 29 of the Memorandum of Association, made the founder of the Academy, namely, Dr. T. M. A. Pai the Registrar for life. The Academy established large number of institutions including the 2nd Petitioner-Engineering College. On 30-5-1957, a trust called The Manipal Engineering College Trust, Manipal was formed, inter alia with the object of establishing an engineering college. The 2nd Petitioner college was established by the said Trust. Dr. T. M. A. Pai died on 29-5-1979. With the object of commemorating the name of dr. T. M. A. Pai and promote the object which was dearer to him, the 1st Petitioner Trust, namely, dr. T. M. A. Pai Foundation was formed as per the Trust Deed dated 17-2-1931. The object of the trust as indicated in the Trust Deed was to promote the development of Konkani language and culture of Konkani speaking people in general and for educational advancement of the students speaking Konkani in addition to all castes and communities. The Trustees of the Manipal institute of Technology Trust aforesaid, by another deed of declaration of Trust made on 8-7-1983 transferred all the assets to the 1st Petitioner - Foundation. As a result, the 2nd petitioner College is now owned and administered by the 1st Petitioner-Trust. With the object of prohibiting the evil of collection of capitation fee exhorbitant rates for admission into educational institutions and in particular to institutions imparting technical education, the Governor of the State promulgated an Ordinance called the Karnataka educational, Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Ordinance, 1984, Questioning the constitutional validity of the said Ordinance and the order of the State Government dated 19-7-1984 fixing the total intake of the 2nd Petitioner-College and also earmarking 40% of the seats thereof as Government seats, this Writ Petition was presented. During the pendency of the writ Petition, the Act came into force on 9. 8. 1984. Thereafter the order dated 16. 8. 1984 has been issued fixing the rates of capitation fee and tuition fee chargeable to private unaided educational institutions. The 2nd Petitioner institution is not receiving any financial aid from the State government and, therefore it comes under the category of Private unaided educational institution.
( 3 ) THE plea of the Petitioners is that the Act is violative of Article 30 of the Constitution, which conferred a fundamental right on the linguistic and religious minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. In support of this plea, the Petitioners have stated as follows: Konkani is a language of a Section of the people in the State which constitutes a small minority. Dr. T. M. A. Pai was a Konkani speaking person by birth. He was whole and soul of the Academy of General Education established by him in 1942 and he was largely responsible for the development of the Academy which made a small beginning in 1942 into a huge organisation consisting of schools and colleges including a Law College, a Medical College and
AI
An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers
Please visit our Training & Support
Center or Contact Us for assistance
Scan Me!
India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!
For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :
Back to top
