1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith, with the consent of parties.

2. This petition has been filed against the communication dated 19.4.2009 from Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded (Respondent No.2), directing the petitioner to advertise the vacancy of the post of Principal as a reserved vacancy.

3. The petitioner is an educational institution registered under the Public Trusts Act. Its aim and object is to impart education through several colleges and schools run by it. In June 2001, the petitioner started a new college in District Nanded, namely, the Rajiv Gandhi Mahavidyalaya, Mudkhed. The college was duly approved and is affiliated to Respondent No.2-University. It receives 100 per cent grantin- aid from the State. The petitioner desired to appoint a regular permanent Principal for its college. Accordingly, the draft of the advertisement to be published for filling up the post of Principal, was submitted to the Respondent-University for its approval. The University informed the petitioner that the post of Principal be filled in from the category reserved for the backward classes. Accordingly, the petitioner issued two advertisements for filling up the posts from the reserved category. Since no suitable candidate was available, the petitioner moved the University again to approve its proposed advertisement to fill in the post of the Principal from the open category. The petitioner had drawn the attention of the University to the judgment of this Court in the case of VidyaPrasarak Mandal vs. University of Mumbai, reported in 2008 (5) Mh.L.J. 47, in support of its contention that since the post of Principal was an isolated post, it need not be reserved. However, the Respondent-University refused to approve the draft of the advertisement. The request was repeated on 12.5.2009 by the petitioner. As the University has paid no heed to the petitioner's request, it has preferred the present petition, seeking an order to quash the condition imposed by the University, for issuing an advertisement for the post of Principal for the backward classes only.

4. An affidavit has been filed by the in-charge Administrative Officer working in the office of the Joint Director, Higher Education, Nanded, in reply to the petition. He has averred that the reservation policy is not applicable to an isolated post i.e. where an institution has only one college. However, where the institution runs more than one college for the same stream of subjects, the post of Principal cannot be treated as an isolated post. Such a post would have to be filled in, considering the roster point and the reservation available. According to the deponent, the petitioner is running more than one college for the same Faculty and hence, the need to reserve the post of Principal for the backward classes.

5. There is no dispute that the petitioner-institution is running several colleges in Nanded. It is running four colleges for Arts, Commerce and Science, including the Rajiv Gandhi Mahavidyalaya, Mudkhed, in which the post of Principal is vacant. Besides this, the petitioner is also running a law college, a college of pharmacy, a college for B.Ed. and also an institute for management studies in the District of Nanded.

6. The question, therefore, is whether merely because an institution runs several colleges of the same Faculty, is it obligatory for each such college to fill in the post of Principal by taking into account the reservation policy of the State. It would be necessary, therefore, to consider whether all such colleges of the institution have to be clubbed together while filling in the vacancy for the post of principal or would they have to treated as individual colleges having an isolated post for the principal.

7. Admittedly, the 2nd Respondent-University is governed by the Maharashtra Universities Act,1994. No statutes have been framed under this Act, as yet. The Act itself does not specify any reservation for the post of Principal. I