JUDGMENT

Kirti Singh, J.

The petitioner-college is an educational institute established in the year 2013 and offers courses on Ayurveda including BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurveda Medicine and Surgery). The petitioner-college is approaching this Hon'ble High Court by way of instant civil writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari for quashing the impugned order dated 21.08.2023 (Annexure P25) passed by respondent No.3 vide which it was held that 07 teachers were working only on paper, impugned letter dated 06.09.2023 (Annexure P45) vide which respondent No.3 granted conditional permission to the petitioner-college for 60 seats instead of 100 in UG (BAMS) course for the academic session 2023-24 as well as impugned order dated 29.09.2023 (Annexure P49) passed by respondent No.2 vide which the appeal dated 31.08.2023 filed by the petitioner-college was rejected and impugned dismissal letter of second appeal dated 07.11.2023 (Annexure P68) passed by respondent No.1 dismissing the second appeal/representation dated 30.09.2023 filed by the petitioner-college against impugned order dated 29.09.2023 passed by respondent No.2.

Factual matrix

2. The facts in brief are that respondent No.3 i.e. Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine (MARBISM) conducted a surprise inspection on 02.05.2023 and 03.05.2023 in the petitioner-college in respect of issuance of conditional permission with the intake capacity of 100 seats in UG (BAMS) course for the academic session 2023-24.

2.1 Respondent No.3 issued a letter dated 27.06.2023 to all the Principals/Deans/Directors of all colleges of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Sowa-rigpa seeking the vacations schedule declared for the teaching and non-teaching staff.

2.2 In pursuance thereto, the petitioner-college which has about 41 teaching staff submitted its vacation schedule vide letter dated 30.06.2023. As per the vacation schedule, 21 teachers were on summer vacations for the first half i.e. from 27.05.2023 to 23.06.2023 whereas the remaining 20 teachers were to be on the vacations for the second half i.e. from 24.06.2023 to 22.07.2023.

2.3 On 19.07.2023 and 20.07.2023, respondent No.3 again conducted a surprise inspection of the petitioner-college and on 01.08.2023 and 02.08.2023, it issued show cause notices to various teachers viz. Dr. Nisha, Dr. Neetu Singh, Dr. Poonam Rani, Dr. Sunita Gupta, Dr. M.S. Sonika, Dr. Christy Jose Cherian, Dr. Hemant Laxman Shinde, Dr. Ashok Kumar, Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Mr. Surendar Singh, Dr. Rajeshvara Rao E and Dr. Nivil V Joseph alleging that it was suspected that they were working only on paper, as during the surprise inspection, they were not physically present and on cross verification from the students, it was found that they were not a full time faculty. Consequently, these teachers were asked to appear for hearing on 03.08.2023 and 04.08.2023.

2.4 Respondent No.3 also issued a notice dated 03.08.2023 to the petitioner-college informing that 12 teachers were suspected to be working only on paper and not physically present in the college. The petitioner-college on 05.08.2023 submitted a detailed reply refuting the allegations.

2.5 Thereafter, respondent No.3 issued the impugned order dated 21.08.2023 imposing a monetary penalty of Rs. 1.75 crore on the petitioner-college in respect of allegedly appointing physically absent but present only on paper teachers.

2.6 Another show cause notice dated 30.08.2023 was issued to the petitioner-college to show cause as to why the conditional permission with the intake capacity of 100 seats in UG (BAMS) course be denied.

2.7 On 06.09.2023, it is alleged that respondent No.3 forced the petitioner-college into sending a letter requesting for conditional permission of 60 seats instead of 100 seats by threatening the petitioner-college with cancellation of recognition in case the request for 60 seats was not made. Resultantly, the petitioner-col