POINT OF LAW: Affiliation of University once the application is rejected by the affiliating University, it cannot be decided subsequently either independently or otherwise by the UGC, then the power conferred on the UGC under the UGC Act and the Regulations made there under would become otiose and that kind of interpretation cannot be expected to be given by any Court of Law

JUDGMENT :

(Prayer : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records of the 1st respondent ending with its Letter No.450/ AU/ CAC/ Autonomous / 2021 dated 08.03.2021 and quash the same and consequently direct the University Grants Commission the 2nd Respondent herein to consider the application of the Petitioner dated 11.02.221 for conferment of autonomous status in the light of the judgement of the Division of this Honourable court in W.A. No.51 of 2020 and confirmed by the Honourable Apex Court in S.L.P. (C) Nos.8324- 8325 of 2020.)

1. The prayer sought for herein is for a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records of the 1st respondent ending with its Letter No.450/ AU/ CAC/ Autonomous / 2021 dated 08.03.2021 and quash the same and consequently direct the University Grants Commission the 2nd Respondent herein to consider the application of the Petitioner dated 11.02.2021 for conferment of autonomous status in the light of the judgment of the Division of this court in W.A. No.51 of 2020 and confirmed by the Honourable Apex Court in S.L.P. (C) Nos.8324- 8325 of 2020.

2. The case of the petitioner is that, the petitioner is an approved and affiliated Engineering College imparting education in the field of engineering since 2010. It has been approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (hereinafter referred to as -AICTE-), New Delhi and affiliated to the Anna University.

3. Since the institution has served for more than ten years and according to the institution, it has fulfilled the norms prescribed in this regard by the University Grants Commission (hereinafter referred to as -UGC-) under the UGC Act as well as the regulations made therein, it thought of making an application to the UGC to declare the autonomous status to the petitioner institution. Since the said status of autonomous institution is to be declared only by the UGC, such application has already been made on 11.02.2021.

4. In this regard, it is to be noted that, as per the UGC (Conferment of Autonomous Status upon Colleges and Measures for Maintenance of Standards in Autonomous Colleges) Regulations, 2018 (in short -2018 Regulations-), various procedures have been contemplated as to how an application has to be submitted by the institution seeking autonomous status and to be processed by the UGC.

5. In this context, Clause 7(3) of the Regulations is pertinent, which reads thus,

7.3 The College shall submit the proposal to the Parent/Affiliating University which may forward the same to UGC within 30 days of the receipt of proposal. In case the proposal is rejected by the University, the decision shall be communicated to the college and University Grants Commission through a Speaking Order.”

6. As per Regulation 7(3) of the 2018 Regulations, the petitioner institution submitted its application to the respondent Anna University to be forwarded to the respondent UGC. The said application having been considered by the respondent Anna University, was rejected by a speaking order dated 08.03.2021, wherein the said application of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that, the student enrollment for the last three years was 30% against the requirement of 60% and the examination results for the last three years was 39.5% as against the requirement of 70%. On these two reasons, the application which was submitted by the petitioner to the respondent Anna University to be forwarded to the UGC has been rejected through the order dated 08.03.2021.

7. Unmindful of the said rejection order made by the first respondent Anna University, the petitioner has further made an independent application on 12.03.2021 to the respondent UGC to independently consider the request of the petitioner for grant of autonomous status to the petitioner institution in the light of the law having been declared by this Court in a related case in W.A.No.51 of 2020, which judgment of this Co