JUDGMENT :

(Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus, to direct the 1st and 2nd respondent to pass orders for granting affiliation in favour of the petitioner college in respect of Degree courses as per the affiliation demand statement (2021-2022) issued by the 1st respondent Anna University uploaded on 27.8.2021 and include the name of the petitioner college in the Online counseling conducted by the 3rd and 4th respondents for the academic year 2021-2022 based on the representation already submitted by the petitioner college dated 18.8.2021 and 27.8.2021.)

1. This writ petition has been filed for the issue of a writ of mandamus directing the Anna University to pass appropriate orders and grant affiliation to the petitioner College with respect to Degree Courses for the academic year 2021-2022 and for a consequential direction to include the name of the petitioner College in the counseling conducted by the third and fourth respondents.

2. The case of the petitioner is that they have the approval from All India Council for Technical Education [AICTE] for nine courses and the Anna University had also granted provisional affiliation during the academic year 2020-2021. The petitioner submitted online application for affiliation for all the courses and also remitted the necessary affiliation fees as per the demand made by the Anna University on 09.02.2021.

3. The further case of the petitioner is that the application was also processed and there was a delay in issuing the demand note. It is stated that the demand note was issued by the Anna University only on 27.08.2021 and the petitioner was directed to pay the balance amount of Rs.3,20,000/- towards affiliation fees. The petitioner was not able to pay this amount immediately and the demand note also did not specify any outer limit.

4. The petitioner Institution made a representation on 06.09.2021, to the Anna University seeking for eight days time to pay the affiliation fees. Ultimately, the affiliation fees of Rs.3,20,000/- demanded by the Anna University was paid by way of a demand draft only on 13.09.2021. Even thereafter, the affiliation was not granted by the Anna University and hence a representation was made on 22.09.2021, in this regard. The third and fourth respondents also started the preparation for counseling. Therefore, the petitioner Institution left with no other option, has filed the present writ petition before this Court seeking for appropriate directions.

5. The learned Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of the impleaded fifth and sixth respondents viz., AICTE, submitted that as per the academic calender for 2021-2022, the last date for grant of affiliation by the concerned University was fixed as 10.08.2021. This was further extended to 31.08.2021, considering the pandemic situation. Thereafter, an application was moved before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in I.A.No.95432 of 2021, seeking for extension of time for granting affiliation and the Hon'ble Supreme Court by an order dated 01.09.2021, granted an extension for three days. The relevant portions that were relied upon by the learned Standing Counsel is extracted hereunder:

“We have heard Mr.K.M.Natraj, learned Additional solicitor General for AICTE, Mr.Zoheb Hossain, learned counsel appearing for Pharmacy Council of India and Ms.Hetu Arora Sethi, learned counsel appearing for Council of Architecture. It was submitted by the learned counsel appearing for the Regulatory Bodies that the affiliation being granted on the basis of final approvals given by the Regulatory Bodies can be done without disturbing the schedule that was given in the revised calendars for admission for the Academic Session 2021-2022. As long as no new application is filed which requires to be considered by the Regulatory Bodies, they do not have any objection for an extension of the cut off date for grant of affiliation to the Technical Institutes which are affiliated t