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HIGH COURT OF KERALA
P.V.ASHA, J
ST.THOMAS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY – Appellant
Versus
THE STATE OF KEALA – Respondent
WP(C)/11778/2020
Affiliation - Educational Institutions - APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University Act, 2015 - Sections 30, 43, 60, 63 - Court analyzed the authority of the University in fixing norms for affiliations, ruling they cannot exceed AICTE standards without legislative basis.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioners challenged the denial of affiliation by the university, asserting compliance with AICTE approval for new courses, while the university cited non-compliance with newly implemented affiliation criteria requiring NBA accreditation and governmental NOC.
Finding of the Court:
The court held that the university maintained authority to set affiliation norms but must adhere to AICTE guidelines. It noted the arbitrary nature of certain requirements and ordered a reevaluation of the affiliation applications.
Issues: Whether the university could impose additional requirements for affiliation beyond those set by AICTE, particularly regarding NBA accreditation and NOC, and their relevance to existing courses.
Ratio Decidendi: The university's imposition of higher standards for affiliation not legislated was held invalid. The AICTE's approval suffices for the institution's affiliation unless specific legal shortcomings are present.
Final Decision: The court ordered the university to reassess denied affiliation applications, discarding improper conditions.
JUDGMENT
Petitioners in all these Writ Petitions are aggrieved by the denial of affiliation by the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University to the educational institutions run by them, on the ground that the petitioner Colleges do not fulfill the conditions/norms fixed by the University. In all these cases except in one, the petitioners seek affiliation based on approval granted to them by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for commencing additional/new courses. The petitioner in W.P.(C) No.11949 of 2020 seeks affiliation based on approval granted for MBA programme. According to the petitioners, the University has no authority to insist any further condition once approval is granted by the AICTE. The contentions raised in all these Writ Petitions are more or less similar and the issue raised is also common. The claims and contentions in each of the Writ Petitions are as given below:
2 .WP(C) No.11778 of 2020
2.1. The petitioner college started B.Tech courses in 2010-11 with a total intake of 300 seats in (1) Civil Engineering (2) Mechanical Engineering (3)
Electrical & Electronics Engineering (4) Electronics & Communication Engineering (5) Computer Science & Engineering, with approval from AICTE and affiliation from M.G University. On formation of the APJ Adbul Kalam Technological University in the year 2015, the affiliation got transferred to the respondent University by virtue of Section 60 of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University Act , 2015, ('the University Act 2015' for short). On account of the low turn out of students, the intake capacity in the branches Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Electronics and Communication Engineering was reduced from 60 to 30 seats in the year 2018. In the year 2020- 21, the petitioner college submitted application for approval to start undergraduate courses in B.Tech Agricultural Engineering and B.Tech Artificial Engineering and Machine Learning with an intake of 30 seats each. As per Ext.P3 e-mail dated 06.03.2020, the University informed the Colleges that applications if any for commencement of new courses/additional batches shall be submitted in the prescribed format on or before 10.03.2020 and the petitioner submitted its application in the format on the same day, before the University. The AICTE, as per Ext.P2 order dated 9.6.2020 granted extension of approval for the Undergraduate courses in (1) Civil Engineering and (2) Mechanical Engineering with an intake of 60 each, (3) Electrical and Electronics Engineering, (4) Electronics and Communication Engineering with an intake of 30 each and (5) Computer Science and Engineering with an intake of 60. Along with that, approval was granted for new courses in (6) Agricultural Engineering and (7)
Computer Science and Engineering (Artificial Intelligence Engineering and Machine Learning) with an intake of 30 each. Even though the petitioner had submitted application for affiliation and also for NOC from the University as well as the State Government as per Exts.P4 and P5 letters on 9.3.2020 and 10.03.2020, the University or Government did not respond. It was stated that the petitioner could not remit the processing fee and inspection fee of Rs.1 lakh with the University for the new courses, since the web portal was not open after 22.05.2020. Whileso, the University circulated Ext.P6 letter dated.10.6.2020 to the Principals of the Colleges informing that the syndicate has taken a decision fixing the following norms for grant of affiliation: 1) at least one of the existing programmes should be NBA accredited. In case of PG programmes, the concerned UG Programmes should have NBA accreditation, 2) the average annual intake in the institution for the previous 3 years should be more than 50% of the sanctioned intake, 3) the proposed programme should have AICTE approval and NOC from the Government and 4) the proposed programme should have industry demand/employment potential. The petitioner is challenging the conditions
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