Hon’ble Mrs. Sunita Agarwal, J.—In this bunch of writ petitions various private institutions imparting B.Ed course in the State of U.P. and the candidates seeking admission to the said course are raising a common controversy with regard to the distribution of seats by the Counselling University namely the University of Lucknow in Arts and Science group in the ratio of 70:30, for the purpose of admission based on common admission test, on account of which, the admissions taken by the institution against the vacant seats (as per the approved intake) were cancelled.

2. Heard Sri Sujeet Kumar, Sri Nipun Singh, Sri Prateek Chandra, Sri Rohit Pandey, Ms. Chhaya Gupta, Sri Avadhesh Kumar Malviya, and Sri Ramesh Chandra Tiwari, learned Counsels for the petitioners in the present bunch and Sri Mangla Prasad Rai & Sri Avaneesh Tripathi, learned Counsels appearing for respondent Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.

3. Ms. Rashmi Tripathi, Bharat Pratap Singh appearing on behalf of respondent N.C.T.E, Sri Ravi Agarwal said to have filed Vakalatnama on behalf of NCTE in some connected matters. Sri Saumitra Singh and Sri Mohit Singh, learned Counsels appear on behalf of Counselling University namely the University of Lucknow. Learned Standing Counsel appears for respondent No. 1.

4. To appreciate the controversy at hands with regard to the categorization/bifurcation of Arts and Science stream for the purpose of admission to B.Ed course, only the facts of the leading writ petition are being narrated hereinafter. There is no dispute with regard to the recommendation and affiliation granted to the institution concerned by the competent authorities and the approved intake for running B.Ed course. The petitioner-institution has been granted recognition for imparting B.Ed. course and was duly granted affiliation by the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.

5. The dispute herein pertains to the Academic Session 2017-18. The last date for completion of Admission process as per the direction of the Apex Court was 15.7.2017. The B.Ed programme is a two years course. For admission to the said programme in the Academic Session 2017-18 (first year), the University of Lucknow has been authorized by the State Government to conduct Joint Entrance Examination. (Lucknow University is being referred hereinafter as the “Counselling University”).

6. The contention of the petitioners institutions in the present bunch is that there is no contemplation in the recognition order passed by the National Council for Teacher Education (in short NCTE) and the affiliation order issued by the concerned affiliating Universities, (Chaudhary Charan Singh University in leading writ petition) regarding bifurcation of total intake in 70:30 ratio of Arts and Science Stream. No directions have been issued by the State Government in this regard. However, the Affiliating University on its own used to forward the list of the affiliated colleges, to the Counselling University, with the division of seats in Arts/Commerce and Science/Agriculture stream in different ratio for the purpose of admission. The dispute in this regard for the first time arose in the Academic Session 2007-08, when bifurcation was applied in the Joint Admission Test and centralized counselling was introduced. Till the year 2014-15, as per the prevalent practice, in case, seats of one stream remained vacant, the Counselling University used to allot candidates of other stream to the institution, in order to fill up the vacant seats. The students so admitted were allowed to undertake examination by the Affiliating University and their results were declared.

7. In the last Academic Session 2015-16 and 2016-17, for admission to B.Ed (first year) course, the same bifurcation was applied by the Counselling University. Large number of writ petitions were filed challenging the bifurcation of seats in Arts Streams (Humanities & Commerce) and Science stream (Science and Agriculture). A Single Bench of thi