A private engineering college that is affiliated with a university is not purely a private institution but rather has a public character due to its affiliation and the regulatory role of the university, and thus its actions are subject to judicial review through writ petitions.

A. K. PADHI, J.

( 1 ) BOTH the writ applications were taken up together for hearing at the points of law are the same. We propose to dispose of them by this judgment.

( 2 ) IN O. J. C. No. 2745 of 1988 Ambika Prasad Mohanty (a minor boy represented through his father) is the petitioner. He has stated that in pursuance to the prospectus issued by opp. party No. 1 (Orissa Engineering College) he applied for admission to 4 years B. Sc. Engineering Course in civil engineering for the academic session 1988-89. After interview, the petitioner was duly selected and intimated to take admission in the College. He deposited the requisite fees etc. of the College to the tune of Rs. 20,585. 00 and was admitted to the College vide Annexures-1 and 4 which is not in dispute. After being admitted he received a letter of cancellation of his admission vide Annexure-2, dt. 16-8-1988. Annexure-2 reads as follows : -"on scrutiny it has now been detected that your application was earlier rejected for various defects not in conformity with the prospectus issued by Orissa Engineering College. You have been given the admission certificate through oversight. I hereby cancel your admission certificate and admission to Orissa Engineering College for reasons stated above. Please collect Rs. 20,585/- from the office against return of provisional receipt and also admission certificate. "this order of cancellation of admission is assailed in O. J. C. No. 2745 of 1988.

( 3 ) IN O. J. C. No. 2767 of 1988, after due selection and payment of the fees etc. petitioner Sanjib Sasmal was admitted on 4-8-1988. On 16-8-1988 the petitioner received a letter to the following effect vide. Annexure-6. "on scrutiny it has now been detected that your application was earlier rejected for various defects not in conformity with the prospectus issued by Orissa Engg. College. Please collect Rs. 20,585/- from the office against return of provisional receipt granted to you. " this letter under Annexure-6 which amounts to cancellation of admission to the Engineering Course is challenged by the petitioner. In both the writ applications, the opp. parties are the same. Similar counters have been filed in both the writ applications by the opp. parties. The stand taken by opp. party No. 1, Orissa Engineering College (hereinafter described as 'the College') is that the eligibility for admission to the Engineering Course as laid down in the prospectus is minimum 50 per cent of the mark in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics in the qualifying examination. As both the petitioners had not secured 50 per cent in the qualifying examination and as due to inadvertence they had been admitted, which was detected later, their admissions were cancelled. The main attack by the College is that the writ applications are not maintainable as opposite party No. 1 is purely a private College and is not getting any grant-in-aid from the Government and hence does not come within the ambit of Art. 12 of the Constitution of India and no writ can be enforced against a private institution.

( 4 ) THE main questions which arise in these two writ applications are - (a) whether a writ is maintainable against the College which is admittedly purely a private College?; and (b) if maintainable, then are the petitioners entitled to get any relief ?

( 5 ) IT is beyond dispute that private colleges which are not receiving grant-in-aid from the State either partially or in full do not come within the definition of "the State" under Art. 12 of the Constitution of India. There are catena of decisions that employees of these institutions cannot enforce their rights in a writ application when the relationship of master and servant rules the field see AIR 1975 SC 1329, AIR 1976 SC 888 and 1073.

( 6 ) THE moot question is whether a college admitted to the privileges of the University can act arbitrarily in the matter of admission/cancellation of admission.

( 7 ) THE prospectus conspicuously states :-"the Orissa Engineering C