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2024 Supreme(Online)(DEL) 260
HIGH COURT OF DELHI
C. Hari Shankar, J
PANDYA KHUSHALBHAI GHANSHYAMBHAI AND ORS. – Appellant
Versus
INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPERN UNIVERSITY MAIDAN (IGNOU) AND ORS. – Respondent
W.P.(C)-1743/2020
Denying additional re-admission opportunities to degree students while granting them to diploma students violates Article 14, constituting discrimination without rational basis.
Headnote:(A) Indira Gandhi National Open University Act, 2009 - Memorandum of Understanding - Educational Trust - Engineering Degree Programs - The IGNOU entered into an MoU to provide degree courses, which were later discontinued due to lack of AICTE approval. The petitioners, admitted prior to discontinuation, sought extension of the registration period to clear backlog papers, claiming discrimination against degree students compared to diploma students. (Paras 1-5, 44-46)
(B) Article 14 of the Constitution of India - Right to Equality - The court found that denying the ERP facility to degree students while granting it to diploma students constituted invidious discrimination, lacking any rational basis. (Paras 25, 44)
(C) Jurisdiction of Academic Council - The court held that the decision to deny ERP was beyond the jurisdiction of the SOET and should have been made by the Academic Council. (Paras 44, 46)
Findings of Court:
The court ruled that the petitioners were entitled to two years’ ERP to complete their backlog papers, as the denial was discriminatory and lacked legal justification.
Result: Writ petition allowed, directing the IGNOU to extend the ERP benefit to the petitioners.
% 01.07.2024 Facts
1. The Indira Gandhi National Open University1 entered into a Memorandum of Understanding2 with the Shri Angla Parameshvari 1 “IGNOU” hereinafter 2 “MoU” hereinafter Educational Trust3 on 25 March 2009 to provide degree and diploma courses in Engineering through a Vertically Integrated Engineering Programme4. Admissions to degree and diploma courses under the said course were made only in the year 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, whereafter the IGNOU-VIEP was discontinued. The minimum and maximum duration of the courses provided under the IGNOU-VIEP were as under:
- S. No. Programme Minimum Duration Maximum Duration
1. B. Tech Degree (After 10+ 2) 4 Years 8 Years
2. B. Tech Degree (Lateral Entry) 3 Years 6 Years
3. Diploma in Engineering (After 10th) 3 Years 6 Years
4. Diploma in Engineering (Lateral Entry) 2 Years 4 Years
2. All the petitioners were admitted to the B. Tech Degree Programs in Engineering under the IGNOU-VIEP on face-to-face basis during the above years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.
They pursued their courses in the School of Engineering and Technology5.
3. On 28 August 2009, the Ministry of Human Resource Development6 issued a direction to stop providing Technical Degree Programmes by Open Distance Learning7. Resultantly, the IGNOU discontinued providing technical programmes involving extensive 3 “SAPET” hereinafter 4 “IGNOU-VIEP” hereinafter 5 “SOET” hereinafter 6 “MHRD” hereinafter 7 “ODL” hereinafter laboratory components by ODL. This does not seriously affect the petitioners as their B. Tech programs were on face-to-face basis.
4. On 27 September 2010, the Academic Council8 of the IGNOU decided, in its 53rd meeting, to allocate colleges to applicants for degree/diploma programs in Engineering under the IGNOU-VIEP.
Consequent thereupon, the petitioners were allotted institutes affiliated to the IGNOU from where they persuaded their respective courses.
5. The decision in Hindustan Aviation Academy
5.1 On 23 July 2013, judgment in WP (C) 5789/2012 (Hindustan Aviation Academy v. I.G.N.O.U.9) and connected cases was rendered by a learned Single Judge of this Court. The said decision dealt with MoUs executed by the IGNOU with various parties to set up Study Centres for conducting development programs in the area of Aerospace Engineering, and also made reference to the MoU dated 25 March 2009 between IGNOU and SAPET. This Court noted, further, that the School Council Meeting of School of Engineering and Technology (SOET), in its meeting dated 8 May 2012, noted that the face-to-face programmes conducted by IGNOU through SAPET did not conform to the legal requirements stipulated by All India Council for Technical Education10. Admissions in the said programmes were therefore decided to be kept in abeyance till approval of AICTE was obtained. Thereafter, in a meeting held on 31 May 2012, the Board of 8 “AC” hereinafter 9 2013 SCC Online Del 2754 10 “AICTE” hereinafter Management11 of the IGNOU noticed that several MOUs had been executed by the IGNOU contrary to the statutes governing it and that the IGNOU was intended to provide distance education and not to run face-to-face programmes. The Board of Management also, therefore, decided that the MoUs executed by the IGNOU with SAPET and other institutions be reviewed by a duly constituted Committee and that till then, admissions to programmes/courses conducted under the said MoUs be kept in abeyance.
5.2 As a result, as already noticed earlier, admissions under the IGNOU-VIEP were discontinued after 2011. The students who had applied for admission to the said face-to-face programmes during 2012-2013, and were denied admission, therefore, approached this Court, seeking that the communications rejecting their applications be quashed and that they be admitted to the said courses.
5.3 The IGNOU, in its counter-affidavit, admitted the MoUs executed with various institutions, including the MoU dated 25 March 2009 with SAPET. Nonetheless, as the programmes had been started with
