The main legal point established in the judgment is that the University's actions in limiting the intake of students and insisting on a NOC from the State Government were arbitrary and not justified as per the relevant legal provisions.

JUDGMENT :

1. Nehru College of Educational and Charitable Trust (‘the Trust’ for the sake of brevity) is registered under the Indian Trust Act, 1882. The said Trust is stated to be running numerous educational institutions in the States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The 1st petitioner is the Chairman and Managing Trustee whereas the 2nd petitioner is the Principal of the “Nehru Academy of Law” which is one among the educational institutions managed by the Trust. The petitioners have approached this Court aggrieved by Ext.P5 communication dated 18.08.2020 issued by the 1st respondent as per which, the Nehru Academy of Law has been included among the list of Colleges that have been granted affiliation to new programs for the year 2021 and 2022, however, by limiting the intake to 40 seats instead of 60 seats as requested for.

2. Brief facts which are required to narrated for disposal of the writ petition are as under:

The Nehru Academy of Law started its functioning from the academic year 2015-2016 after obtaining approval of the Bar Council of India (‘BCI’ for the sake of brevity) and affiliation from the University of Calicut (‘University’ for the sake of brevity). They have been conducting 3-year LL.B. and 5-year Integrated B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) courses. All requisite infrastructural and other facilities are available in the College for the smooth running of the courses. The first batch of students of the 3-year LL.B. course have completed their course of study and had passed out during 2017-2018, whereas, the first batch of students of the integrated 5-year B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) have completed their course and have passed out during 2019-2020. The petitioners assert that the students have displayed exemplary performance during their stint in the College and the institution, as well as the faculty, have performed admirably.

3. The Trust resolved to apply for and obtain necessary approval and affiliation for the conduct of the Integrated course of B.Com. LL.B. (Hons.) for the academic year 2019-2020. The petitioners resolved to take such a decision as there were only six colleges in the State which were presently conducting B.Com. LL.B. Course and none of those colleges was situated in the Palakkad District.

4. As per the provisions of Law, the petitioners are required to obtain affiliation of the University and approval of the BCI after due inspection to verify that the College had all the necessary facilities and amenities for conducting the course. The inspecting team deputed by the BCI conducted an inspection on 19.09.2018 and satisfaction was expressed about the infrastructural facilities and compliance with all the statutory requirements. Additional faculties and non-teaching staff were identified and they had expressed their willingness to join the College as and when approval was obtained.

5. The 2nd petitioner in the said circumstances issued a letter dated 19.09.2018 to the Secretary, BCI seeking a grant of approval. The 2nd petitioner was advised to apply for additional affiliation/consent for affiliation from the University and obtain NOC from the State Government before seeking a grant of approval of the BCI. Ext.P2 letter dated 18.12.2018 was accordingly issued to the University enclosing the application for additional affiliation of B.Com. LL.B. (Hons.) with the requisite fee. Ext.P3 letter dated 21.1.2019 was also addressed to the 3rd respondent requesting that their application be accepted and No Objection Certificate be issued for conducting the B.Com. LL.B. (Hons.) course with an intake of 60 seats from the academic year 2019-2020.

6. Immediately thereafter, the assessing team deputed by the University conducted an inspection of the College on 22.05.2019 and they were satisfied with the infrastructural facilities and other amenities including faculty and staff. However, no further action was taken by the University. I