JUDGMENT :

(Amrita Sinha, J.) :-

1. The petitioner no. 1 college made an online application for grant of recognition of teacher education programmes before the National Council for Technical Education (NCTE for short) on 31st May, 2016.

2. According to the NCTE notification dated 28th November, 2014 an eligible institution desirous of running a teacher education programme may apply to the concerned Regional Committee for recognition in prescribed application form along with processing fee and requisite documents. The application shall be submitted online electronically along with processing fee and scanned copies of required documents such as no objection certificate (‘NOC’ for short) issued by the concerned affiliating body. The affiliating body of the petitioner is the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (‘the Board’ for short).

3. The petitioner applied for NOC before the Board. The prayer of the petitioner for grant of NOC was considered by the Board and by a communication dated 24th June, 2021 the Board was of the opinion that the application filed by the petitioner is deficient. The petitioner has been requested to submit copy of the trust/society deed, no encumbrances/litigation certificates, copy of the registered agreement/deed for transfer of the land in the name of the proposed institution within six months from the grant of recognition, land use certificate issued by the BLRO, approved building plan along with photographs of the construction/building as per NCTE norms and a notarised declaration that the proposed institution will be run by NCTE and Government of West Bengal guidelines and the proposed institution is a ‘no profit making’ institution.

4. It was further communicated that after verification of the aforesaid documents, if the Board is satisfied, it will take up the next course of action. On being fully satisfied with the norms and standards as per the NCTE Regulations, 2014 the Board will forward the application along with observation of the Board for opinion of the Department of School Education. The Board will dispose of the application finally as per the opinion/recommendation of the Government of West Bengal in the Department of School Education.

5. The petitioner is aggrieved by the contents of the said communication. According to the petitioner the NCTE Regulations, 2014 does not give any power to the affiliating body to record his satisfaction. There is also no provision in the said Regulations requiring forwarding of the documents sought for by the affiliating body.

6. The petitioner contends that the Board being the affiliating body is required to issue NOC in usual course, as and when applications are made before them. It has further been contended that, at best, the Board can only enquire as to whether there are similar institutions in the vicinity of the proposed institution. Apart from the above, the Board at this stage, being the affiliating body, does not have any other role to play.

7. The petitioner contends that in the absence of a specific provision mandating an applicant to forward documents to the affiliating body and for recording satisfaction on verification of the same, the affiliating body does not have the jurisdiction to enter into the merits of the documents and record satisfaction thereof.

8. The learned advocate for the Board submits, upon instruction, that documents which have been sought for from the petitioner are required for the purpose of taking a decision with regard to the application filed by the petitioner praying for issuance of NOC for recognition. It has been submitted that NCTE has laid down the norms to be followed by the affiliating bodies for the session 2016-17. It clearly lays down that the affiliating bodies may develop their own norms and procedures for grant of NOC. Primarily they have to give their consent for the conduct of examination and for certification. Generally, the College Development Council which deals with affiliation, may take it up, based on