The Court held that the ICFAI National Colleges and ICFAI Business Schools, conducting full-time academic programs, and ICFAI Study Centre for 360 Flexible Education throughout the State of Tamil Nadu are in violation of various Central and State enactments.

V. Dhanapalan, J.

1. W.P.No.30664 of 2006 has been filed as a pro bono publico for issuance of a writ of mandamus, directing the respondents 1 to 9 to initiate appropriate action against the respondents 10 and 11 for closure of 22 ICFAI National Colleges and ICFAI Business Schools, conducting full time academic programs, and ICFAI Study Centre for 360 Flexible Education throughout the State of Tamil Nadu and safeguard the interest of students who are pursuing their studies with respondents 10 and 11.

2. W.P.Nos.17126 and 17127 of 2008 have been filed for issuance of a writ of certiorari to call for the records relating to the order of the respondent in file No.37-3/Legal/AICTE, dated 30.06.2008, and to quash the same.

3. W.P.No.17128 of 2008 is for a mandamus, directing the respondent to delete the name of the petitioner from the List of Unapproved Institutions maintained in its website www.aicte.ernet.in.

4. Though all these Writ Petitions involve an identical issue, they are being dealt with separately as under :

W.P.No.30664 of 2006 :

5. The case of the petitioner goes thus :

1. He saw an advertisement in newspapers stating that ICFAI National College and ICFAI Business School were offering full time academic M.B.A., M.C.A., and M.S.programmes in the State of Tamil Nadu. He also saw an advertisement that ICFAI was offering distance learning programme under the mode of 360 Flexible Learning Programmes in the State for the courses viz., B.B.A., B.C.A., B.Ed; B.S.Programmes in Marketing, Banking, Insurance and Accounting; Bachelor Degree Programmes such as B.A., B.Sc., B.Com., B.G.L., B.L.Sc., B.J. and Master Degree Programmes, namely, M.Ed., M.A., M.Sc., M.Com., L.L.M., M.L.Sc., M.J. and M.P.P.

5. 2. A probe conducted by the petitioner on the matter revealed that the contents of the paper advertisements were given in a misleading manner without disclosing the author who gave advertisement and the status of ICFAI National College, ICFAI Business School, ICFAI Distance Education/ 360 Flexible Education, ICFAI University etc. He went through the prospects of ICFAI University, ICFAI Institution and ICFAI National College and came to know that ICFAI University (in short, "the University") represents the multi-state network of universities, sponsored by Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (in short, "the Institute") under specific Acts in Uttaranchal, Tripura, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Mizoram, which consequently confers degrees at bachelor, master and doctoral levels on eligible students. A perusal of the brochure issued to the students does not disclose as to which University is going to confer degrees to the students. The method of examination, selection of students, collection of fees are not in consonance with the statutory requirements and the respective courses of various disciplines.

5. 3. As per the 360o Flexible Learning Program Prospectus, the 10th respondent Institute disclosed that the Institute had constituted the study centres which have been stated in the University prospectus. Therefore, the Institute and the University, who are respondents 10 and 11 have collusively played a fraud upon the innocent student community at large without authority of law.

5. 4. As per the ICFAI National College Prospectus, 23 full time academic National Colleges have been established throughout the State of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. ICFAI was originally granted University status under Chhattisgtarh Act 2/2002, which was challenged invoking Article 32 of the Constitution of India in a Public Interest Litigation and the same was allowed by the Supreme Court, quashing the Act. On the Act being quashed, ICFAI was no longer empowered to conduct such classes. In the meanwhile, the State of Uttaranchal passed Act 16/2003, providing for ICFAI University at Dehradun, which came into effect on 10.07.2003. The University Grants Commission has also declared the same as a private University under Section 2 (f) of the U