This is an appeal by the University of Madras against the judgment of Subba Rao, J., in W.P.No.341 of 1951 and the point for determination is whether the directions issued by the appellant to the affiliated colleges not to admit girl students without obtaining the permission of the Syndicate are valid. For a correct appreciation of the true scope and significance of those directions, it is necessary to state the conditions under which they came to be given. Until recently the number of girl students who sought higher education in the colleges was inconsiderable and the women’s colleges that were in existence were quite ample to provide for their needs. Latterly there has been a large increase in their number and as the existing women-colleges were not sufficient to accommodate, them, colleges which were admitting only boys also began to admit girls. Co-education became so general that by 1943, the Syndicate considered it desirable to frame certain rules for regulating the admission of women students in such mixed colleges. Women could be admitted only with the prior sanction of the Syndicate and the maximum number that could be admitted was fixed by the Syndic