J U D G M E N T

Petitioner is a self financing college offering Bachelor of Design Course (B.Des) as permitted by the State Government after obtaining necessary permissions and affiliations from all authorities including the affiliation of the fourth respondent University. The petitioner has entered into a seat sharing agreement with the State Government in terms of which 50% of the seats of the course namely the Government quota are to be filled up on the basis of the merit list prepared by the third respondent, the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations, Government of Kerala and the petitioner is entitled to fill up the remaining seats as management quota. The basic qualification prescribed by the fourth respondent University for a candidate aspiring to join B.Des is pass in higher secondary level examination with an aggregate of 50%

marks and pass marks for all the subjects. It is stated by the petitioner that the Government has entrusted the task of conducting selection for admission to the 50% seats of the course under the Government quota to the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations. It is also stated by the petitioner that the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations, with the concurrence of the Government has prescribed that a pass in the National Aptitude Test for Architecture(NATA) or the Undergraduate Common Entrance Examination for Design conducted by IIT, Bombay (UCEED) or the entrance examination conducted by National Institute of Design (NID) as the additional qualification for admission to apply for the course under the Government quota.

2. The fifth respondent is also an institution affiliated to the fourth respondent University, offering B.Des course. As in the case of the petitioner, the fifth respondent is also filling up 50% of the seats on the basis of the merit list prepared by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations and the remaining 50% seats on their own. While the petitioner is stated to have been filling up the management quota seats from among the candidates qualified in NATA/UCEED/NID, the fifth respondent is filling up the management quota seats based on an entrance test conducted by them. The case of the petitioner is that since a pass in NATA/UCEED/NID is prescribed by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations as the additional qualification for admission to the course with the concurrence of the Government, the fifth respondent cannot dilute the said qualification by dispensing with the said qualification and fill up the management quota seats by conducting an entrance examination of their own. The petitioner, therefore, seeks directions to quash Ext.P20 prospectus issued by the fifth respondent to the extent it provides for conduct of entrance examination for admission to the management quota for the B.Des course offered by them.

3. A statement has been filed by the fourth respondent University as directed by this Court indicating, among others, that the basic qualification prescribed by the University for the course is that the candidate should have completed higher secondary level examination with an aggregate of 50% marks.

4. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner, the learned counsel for the fifth respondent as also the learned Standing Counsel for the fourth respondent University.

5. As noted, the petitioner and the fifth respondent are institutions offering B.Des course. The grievance voiced by the petitioner concerns the procedure adopted by the fifth respondent for filling up the management quota seats. There is no specific pleading in the writ petition as to how the petitioner would be affected on account of the procedure adopted by the fifth respondent in the matter of filling up their management quota seats. The pleadings in the writ petition, on the other hand, indicate that the petitioner will not be affected in any manner by the conduct of the fifth respondent in filling up their management quota seats. The petitioner cannot, therefore, have any locus standi to institute