ORDER :

1. This order shall decide the present batch of writ petitions filed by the Managements of several junior colleges operating in different of parts of Telangana who are all aggrieved by the order dated 22.02.2020, passed by the respondent No. 3/Director General, Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services (for short ‘TSDRFS’) of directing inclusion of buildings used for running colleges/junior colleges within the definition of a ‘school’ thus making it compulsory for the petitioners to obtain a fire ‘No Objection Certificate’ (for short ‘NOC’) for running their colleges and the order dated 24.03.2020, passed by the respondent No. 2/Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (for short ‘TSBIE’) rejecting the applications of the petitioners for affiliation and ordering closure of the intermediate colleges being run by them with immediate effect.

2. As the reliefs prayed for in all these petitions are identical, for ease of reference, the facts narrated in W.P. No. 8854 of 2020 are being referred to hereinafter. Before adverting to the facts of the captioned case, it is considered necessary to briefly sketch out the background in which the petitioners have filed the present petitions.

3. In the year 2019, one Mr. Dantham Rajesh had filed a public interest litigation, registered as W.P. (PIL) No. 88 of 2019, in the High Court of Telangana under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking directions to the TSBIE and the District Intermediate Education Officers of Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medchal, to conduct a detailed enquiry into the irregularities committed by colleges being operated by the private respondent No. 9, namely Sri. Chaitanya Educational Institutions and the private respondent No. 10, Narayana Educational Institutions respectively and take consequential action against them for failing to adhere to the prescribed norms fixed by the Government for operating colleges. Following was the order passed by the Division Bench on 18.12.2019, in the captioned petition:

“Having regard to the facts of the case, the respondent No. 5 is directed to file a report with regard to the number of Colleges, which have been given permission to run the Intermediate Course, sanctioned strength, addresses where they have been given permission to run and the actual place where they are running the colleges; the relevant norms and regulations governing the sanction of the Colleges and whether the respondents Nos. 9 and 10 - colleges are in compliance of the same, within a period of one month from the date of the receipt of a copy of this order.

List this case on 24.01.2020.”

4. The above order was followed by the order dated 17.02.2020, which reads as under:

“The present Writ Petition (PIL) has been filed inter-alia on the ground that the respondent No. 9, Sri. Chaitanya Educational Institutions, and the respondent No. 10, Narayana Educational Institutions, are running large number of intermediate colleges, i.e. forty-five and forty-six intermediate colleges respectively, without satisfying the conditions of the Andhra Pradesh Educational Institutions (Establishment, Recognition, Administration and Control of Institutions of Higher Education) Rules, 1987 (for short ‘the Rules’).

Mr. A. Jagan, the learned counsel for the petitioner, submits that the said Rules prescribed an elaborate procedure for grant of permission. Permissions can be granted only after the requirement of the Rules are satisfied by the junior colleges. However, despite the fact that the junior colleges do not satisfy the requirement of the Rules, they are being permitted to function in this State. Therefore, the petitioner has prayed for the relief that the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education, the respondent No. 5, should be directed to hold a detailed enquiry into the irregularities committed by the colleges being run by the respondent Nos. 9