1. Heard Mr. Ganbavale, learned counsel for the petitioners; Mr. Kakade, learned Government Pleader for the respondents-State; Mr. Patwardhan, learned counsel for respondent No. 3; and Mr. Govilkar, learned counsel for respondent No. 4.

2. Two petitioners have joined together and have filed the present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking the following reliefs:-

1. for a declaration that admissions of the 30 students to Bachelor of Physiotherapy course and 1 student to Master of Physiotherapy course by the petitioners for the academic year 2015-2016 are in accordance with law, and as such, the admissions are legal and valid;

2. for issuance of writ, order or direction to respondent No. 4 i.e., Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik to grant eligibility certificate, to accept examination forms, to issue hall tickets, to conduct examination, to declare the result and to issue the result and mark-sheet, internship completion certificate and degree certificate, besides returning the original documents of all the above students admitted to the Bachelor of Physiotherapy course and Master of Physiotherapy course for the academic year 2015-2016.

3. Petitioner No. 2 is a minority unaided educational institution which is run and managed by petitioner No. 1. Petitioner No. 2 is a college of physiotherapy and research and had started functioning from the academic year 2004-2005 offering the course of Bachelor of Physiotherapy. From the academic year 2010-2011, petitioner No. 2 started the course of Master of Physiotherapy. For both the above courses, petitioner No. 2 had obtained the requisite recognition and affiliation from the concerned authorities.

4. It is stated that right from the inception till the academic year 2015-2016, petitioner No. 2 had conducted its own entrance test at the institutional level evolving its own admission process in a fair, transparent and merit based manner without charging capitation fee or indulging in any profiteering. After introduction of the course for Master of Physiotherapy from the academic year 2010-2011, petitioner No. 2 also conducted its own entrance test at the institutional level like the Bachelor of Physiotherapy course till the academic year 2015-2016.

5. For the academic year 2015-2016, petitioners submitted application before the Pravesh Niyantran Samitee (Medical Education), Maharashtra i.e., respondent No. 3 seeking permission to conduct its own entrance test at the institutional level for both the courses as was done earlier. However, such permission sought for was rejected by respondent No. 3 vide the order dated 16.01.2015. Against such rejection, petitioners had approached this Court by filing a writ petition, which was registered as Writ Petition No. 5106 of 2015.

6. The aforesaid writ petition i.e., Writ Petition No. 5106 of 2015 was heard along with a connected writ petition being Writ Petition No. 5107 of 2015. It may be mentioned that State of Maharashtra had, in the meanwhile, promulgated an ordinance called 'Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Ordinance, 2015 (for short 'the Ordinance' hereinafter) for regulation of admissions and fees of unaided private professional educational institutions in the State of Maharashtra. Subsequently, the Ordinance became an act by the name of 'Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015' (for short 'the Act' hereinafter). State of Maharashtra filed an affidavit wherein stand taken was that since the petitioners were allowed to hold their own entrance test on orders of the Court prior to promulgation of the Ordinance, the admission process for the academic year 2015-2016 should not be affected due to promulgation of the Ordinance. Petitioners should be allowed to conduct their own entrance test and admission process.

7. In the above context, this Court vide the common judgment