Allahabad High Court
All India Management Association vs Union Of India And 5 Others on 9 October, 2023
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:194376 Court No. - 10 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 31159 of 2022 Petitioner :- All India Management Association Respondent :- Union Of India And 5 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Rahul Chaudhary Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Abrar Ahmad,Rijwan Ali Akhtar,Shashank Shekhar Singh with Case :- WRIT - C No. - 33316 of 2022 Petitioner :- Shambhunath Bhanja And Another Respondent :- Union Of India And 6 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Shiv Sharan Singh Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Abrar Ahmad,Rahul Chaudhary,Rijwan Ali Akhtar,Shashank Shekhar Singh with Case :- WRIT - C No. - 33885 of 2022 Petitioner :- Anil Chopra And 8 Others Respondent :- Union Of India And 6 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Puneet Kumar Pandey Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Abrar Ahmad,Rahul Chaudhary,Rijwan Ali Akhtar,Shashank Shekhar Singh,Sudarshan Singh Hon'ble Kshitij Shailendra,J.
1. Heard Sri G.K. Singh, learned Senior Counsel, assisted by Sri Rahul Chaudhary and Sri Kumar Kisley, for the petitioners, Sri Abrar Ahmad for the respondent no.1, Sri Neeraj Tripathi, learned Senior Counsel, assisted by Sri Shashank Shekhar Singh, for the respondents no.2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and Sri Rizwan Ali Akhtar for the respondent no.7 and perused the record.
2. Same order dated 03.06.2022 passed by the Dean, Faculty of Management Studies & Research, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh has been challenged in all the three writ petitions. Certain whatsapp communications have also been challenged by some of the petitioners.
3. The first petition has been filed by the All India Management Association (in short "petitioner association"), whereas remaining two petitions have been filed by the students.
4. For the purposes of decision, Writ-C No.31159 of 2022 is being treated as leading case.
5. The consequence of the order impugned is that the admissions facilitated to the students by the petitioner association in Ph.D Programme stand cancelled.
6. The case of the petitioner association is that since 1999 onwards it has been conducing Ph.D Programme in the respondent Aligarh Muslim University pursuant to various Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) executed in between the petitioner association and the University. There being no dispute about the fact that the life of every MoU being five years and that the last MoU was executed on 08.09.2017 and has lapsed in September, 2022, the dispute is as to whether the students who were admitted as per the MoU of 2017 should or should not be allowed to continue with their respective courses. Both the parties have referred to same documents forming part of the writ petitions and counter and rejoinder affidavits.
7. It is necessary to refer to certain clauses of Memorandum of Understanding executed on 08.09.2017. Clause 1.2 and Clause 2 are reproduced herein below:-
"1.2 About All India Management Association - Centre For Management Education (AIMA-CME) All India Management Association (AIMA) was established in 1957 with the support of Government of India and the Industry. While the Government of India is represented in the Council of Management of AIMA through Ministry of HRD. AIMA itself is represented on the Board of Governors of IIMS, AICTE and a number of policy making bodies of the Government. AIMA is a member of the Asian Association of Management Organisation (AAMO) which is the Asia Pacific Regional Body of the World Management Council.
The Centre for Management Education (CME) is an autonomous business school under the umbrella of AIMA focusing on management education activities, becoming the national centre for competency testing for management professionals. Pioneer in distance education, AIMA-CME has been conducting the Post Graduate Diploma in Management since 1976, which is now conducted nationally and in ten other countries. In the year 1994, the programme was granted recognition by All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). More than 8000 working managers are enrolled in the various distance learning programmes of AIMA-CME in India and other neighbouring countries. The Centre has a wide reach in conducting the examinations for its courses, spread over 60 cities in India and 10 overseas locations. Today, AIMA-CME is the second largest business school in the country in terms of student enrolments. Besides PGDM, the courses being offered by AIMA-CME are PGDITM, PGDM (Supported by e-Learning), PGCM, ACM and In-company programmes. Since 1999, AIMA-CME has been offering Doctoral programme for:
Senior management professionals, who have a wealth of relevant experience, which would be of immense help for management students.
Upgrading knowledge and teaching skills of management faculty, many of whom are from humanities or science background, with no formal management degree.
Fostering industry-academia interface and in the process striving to produce quality researches.
2. CONSTITUTION OF JOINT RESEARCH COMMITTEE (JRC) A Joint Research Committee (JRC) of five members shall be constituted for the purpose of administration of PhD (Business Administration) program in the manner specified below:
a. The Chairman of the Committee shall be the Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies & Research, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
b. The Co-chairman of the Committee shall be the Director of Centre for Management Education, All India Management Association (AIMA-CME) or any other person from the AIMA nominated by the Director-General of the AIMA.
c. The Chairman, Department of Business Administration shall be the ex-officio member of the JRC. In case, the offices of the Dean and the Chairman are occupied by the same person, the Vice-Chancellor shall nominate a Professor of the Department of Business Administration on the JRC for a period of two years or till these offices are occupied by two different incumbents. whichever is earlier. In case there is no Professor at a particular time, the Vice-Chancellor may nominate senior most Associate Professor for the same period.
d. One member of the JRC shall be nominated by the Director-General of the AIMA.
e. One member shall be an external expert decided in consultation with AIMA-CME and recommended by the Board of Studies of the Department of Business Administration of Aligarh Muslim University and approved by the Vice Chancellor. The appointment of the external expert shall be made for a period of two years."
8. Clause 2 provides for constitution of Joint Research Committee (JRC) which comprises of officials of the petitioner association and the University. The admission procedure is contained in Clause 4 and the entire Clause 4 including its sub-clauses is being reproduced herein below:-
"4. ADMISSION PROCEDURE FOR PhD (BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION) The admission to the PhD (Business Administration) programme shall be administered by Faculty of Management Studies & Research, AMU, in association with AIMA-CME at New Delhi. Admission shall be done through a written test to be conducted at New Delhi under the aegis of AIMA-CME followed by a personal interview to be conducted by the JRC. The mode of conduct and venue for personal interview shall be decided mutually by the Faculty of Management Studies & Research, AMU and the AIMA-CME. The results shall be communicated to the qualified candidates by AIMA-CME within 15 days of the personal interview and other screening process.
The programme shall consist of two phases-foundation phase and the research phase.
4.1 Phase-1: Foundation Phase Qualified candidates shall be admitted to the foundation phase of the programme. Clearing the required number of courses, as prescribed by the JRC from time to time, is a pre-requisite for registration under the research phase. There shall be compulsory courses in general management, courses in functional and sub- functional areas and research methodology as laid down by the JRC from time to time. The courses will be divided into four modules to be completed ordinarily in one year. However, a maximum of three years would be available to the candidates for completion of foundation phase.
4.1.1 Pedagogy The foundation programme will be conducted through Personal Contact Sessions and regular counseling by experts. The self-contained multimedia course pack comprising especially designed study material, text books, assignments etc. will be provided to each candidate. Personal Contact Sessions shall be conducted at AIMA, Delhi. Attendance in Personal Contact Sessions is mandatory and any exemption needs special clearance of JRC.
During the course work the candidate would be required to write an integrated case study and a research paper which would be treated as course of two credits each.
4.1.2 Credit Transfer (Course Exemption) Candidates may be exempted from one or more courses, subject to an upper limit of 50 percent of the total number of optional courses to be covered, if they have already studied a similar course during their educational programme at master's level. Exemption shall be granted by Credit Transfer Committee on a case-to-case basis. The Dean, Faculty of Management Studies & Research, AMU or his nominee shall attend the meeting of the AIMA's Credit Transfer Committee. If he is not able to do so, he shall convey his concurrence with the decision taken, in writing.
4.1.3 Validity for Completion of Foundation Phase The admission to foundation programme shall be valid for 3 years only from the date of registration. In case, the candidate is unable to complete the foundation phase within three years, then he/she shall be required to apply afresh.
4.1.4 Examination On completion of modules, the candidate shall appear in an examination, consisting of theory papers, to be conducted by AIMA-CMI. Only those candidates shall be permitted to appear in the examination who have completed the assignments etc. for the particular courses to the satisfaction of AIMA-CME.
The candidates shall be required to obtain at least a C grade in each course separately and secure an overall B grade on a 4-point scale, failing which they will have to repeat the course(s).
The candidate who successfully completes the foundation programme shall be awarded an "Advanced Diploma in Management" by AIMA-CME and shall be eligible for Phase II.
4.2. Phase II - Research Phase 4.2.1 The candidate shall submit, on the prescribed format, his/her detailed research proposal, in consultation with external supervisor, within three months of the completion of the foundation phase or before the next meeting of the JRC for research phase whichever is later, failing which s/he shall ordinarily not be allowed to pursue the Research Phase. However, if the candidate is not able to do so for any genuine reason, s/he may be allowed to submit the proposal before the subsequent meeting of JRC with the prior approval of the Chairman, JRC. No further extension will be allowed in any case.
4.2.2 The candidate will then be required to present the proposal before the JRC at AMU. The JRC shall evaluate the proposal and offer provisional admission.
4.2.3 There shall be a Research Advisory Committee (hereinafter referred to as RAC) for each provisionally admitted candidate to (i) finalize the topic of research and year wise research plan (ii) identify the course(s) that he/she may have to do and (iii) review periodically and assist in the progress of research work of the research scholar.
The RAC for each research scholar shall consist of the following members:
a) Internal Supervisor (Convener)
b) External Supervisor
c) Chairperson of the Department of Business Administration
d) Subject expert in the similar area from the Department to be nominated by the Dean of the Faculty.
4.2.4 Course Work Subsequent to the approval of the research proposal and admission to the research phase of the programme, the candidate shall be required to successfully complete two advance level courses of minimum four credits each, one on Research Methodology and the other one related to their field of research. The course on Research Methodology could cover areas such as quantitative methods, computer applications, research ethics and review of published research in the relevant field, training, field work, etc. The other course shall be advance level course for an in-depth research orientation in the field of research. The course work shall be treated as a prerequisite for Ph.D. programme.
The classes for these two courses shall be held weekly or fortnightly and attendance shall be compulsory. All candidates admitted to the research phase shall be required to complete the course work prescribed by the RAC in not more than two attempts within 03 semesters from the date of admission, failing which his/her registration to programme will be cancelled and he/she will not be entitled for re-admission in the programme."
9. The case of the petitioners is that the petitioner-association facilitated admissions strictly in accordance with the aforesaid procedure prescribed and certain students cleared the Foundation Phase and have also entered into Research Phase, however, the order impugned has been passed cancelling their admissions.
10. Reference to a letter dated 30.04.2020 issued by the Chairperson of the Department of Business Administration, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh has been made by which it is reflected that though the first MoU was signed in the year 1999 in distance mode and since then the programme is continuing successfully till date with certain modifications and done in the MoUs as and when required. The letter also shows that, at present, all the major clauses of the MoU are in conformity with the corresponding clauses of the UGC Regulations 2016 (the latest one) and the Ph.D Ordinances/ Regulations (2017) of AMU, which have provision for Ph.D in part time mode. The letter is said to have been issued in the interest of the aspirants and a request has been made to the Vice Chancellor of the University to grant part time status to the Ph.D Programme to enhance its credibility and recognition.
11. It has been argued by the petitioners that the University proceeded to clarify the status of Ph.D Programme from "distance learning" to "part time" and certain agenda was issued and placed in the meeting held on 17.08.2020, whereat the Vice Chancellor was authorized to form a Committee to go into all aspects of Ph.D Programme and give suitable recommendations as per the terms of reference (vide Item No.10 of the Agenda), as contained in the office memorandum dated 08.09.2020.
12. Reference to minutes of meeting of the aforesaid Committee constituted by the Vice Chancellor, as contained in the document dated 24.06.2021, has been made, which contains certain recommendations out of which following are relevant for the purposes of this case:-
"1. Since the AIMA-AMU PhD programme caters to working professionals and such candidates may not pursue PhD in full time mode, the said programme can be run under Regular (Part time) mode as per the UGC Regulations 2016.
2. Since Chapter XXV(D) of the Ordinances (Academic) of the University already has a provision of part time Ph.D. Program for Contractual Teachers/Guest Faculties/School Teachers etc., following provisions may be incorporated in the same Chapter for smooth running of the AIMA-AMU PhD programme being run by the FMSR.
(a) The additional eligibility conditions (5 year working experience etc.) may be incorporated as a provision under Clause 2.1 of Chapter XXV (D).
(b) Proviso for conducting a separate written test and Presentation cum interview jointly by AMU and AIMA-CME may be incorporated under clause 3.1 (i), alternatively the candidates may be asked to appear in the Ph.D admission test conducted by the University.
The Committee considered and recommended that the Existing admission procedure and eligibility may be continued till the present MoU expires, i.e. till 2022.
(c) .........
(d) .........
(e) ........
(f) ........
(g) All other provisions as mentioned in Chapter XXV (D) and its regulations may be applicable on the candidates admitted to Part Time PhD Program in the Faculty of Management Studies & Research.
(h) After expiry of present MoU in 07.09.2022, for further extension/entering of a fresh MoU may be routed through Academic Council/Executive Council and if needed, approval may be sought from the U.G.C."
13. It has further been argued that the Academic Council, vide proceedings dated 15.07.2021, approved and accepted the aforesaid report dated 24.06.2021 and in terms of the aforesaid proceedings, following is the decision approved at the level of highest body of the University:-
"The Committee considered and recommended that the Existing admission procedure and eligibility may be continued till the present MoU expires, i.e. till 2022, after expiry of present MoU on 07.09.2022."
14. The submission, therefore, is that the admissions facilitated in the Ph.D course before expiry of MoU, i.e. before 07.09.2022, would be saved by the decision of the University and, hence, the order of cancellation is bad in law. It has further been argued that the admission procedure, which is a step by step procedure, itself shows that Foundation Phase contains personal contact sessions and regular counselling by experts to be held at Delhi and attendance in personal contact sessions is mandatory. Various sub-clauses of the said Foundation Phase have been read out before the Court. It has further been argued that in the Research Phase also, the courses shall be held weekly and fortnightly and attendance shall be compulsory.
15. By referring to the procedure, it has been argued that though the University decided to confer status of "part time course" to the Ph.D programme, it was already being run as a part time course and cannot be termed through distance learning mode simplicitor.
16. It has also been argued that before passing the order impugned, no opportunity of hearing was provided to the petitioners and when the highest authorities of the University, i.e. the Vice Chancellor and Academic Council have saved the admissions taken during the subsistence of MoU of 2017, mentioning that the cancellation of the admissions is as per the recommendations made by the Committee and decision of the Academic Council, is something which is not there, either in the meeting of the Committee or in the decision of the Academic Council and is the invention of the Dean himself.
17. On behalf of the petitioners, reference to Annexure no.9 to the writ petition has also been made, which is a tabulated depiction of phase-wise admissions facilitated to the candidates. The table shows that admissions in Foundation Phase were facilitated in between 2017 and 2018 on different dates, whereas admissions to Research Phase were facilitated in 2021 and 2022, last date being 31.05.2022, i.e. the date which is within the period during which the MoU of 2017 was in force.
18. Per contra, Sri Neeraj Tripathi, learned Senior Counsel, has referred to the notification dated 05.07.2016 by which the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for award of M.Phil/ Ph.D Degrees) Regulations, 2016 had been promulgated and attention of this Court has been drawn towards Regulation 11, which reads as follows:-
"11. Treatment of Ph.D/ M.Phil. through distance Mode/part-time:
11.1 Notwithstanding anything contained in these Regulations or any other Rule or Regulation, for the time being in force, no University; Institution, Deemed to be a University and College shall conduct M.Phil. And Ph.D. Programme through distance education mode.
11.2 Part-time Ph.D will be allowed provided all the conditions mentioned in the extant Ph.D Regulations are met."
19. It has, therefore, been argued that once the University is bound by the Regulations framed by the UGC, which restricts running of Ph.D Programme through distance education mode, the petitioner association cannot run programme through distance learning mode and what is being done by the impugned action is that action of the University is being sought to be brought in conformity with the UGC Regulations, 2016. It has also been argued that the recommendation of the Committee is contained under Clause 2 of the minutes dated 24.06.2021, which is divided in various sub-clauses and as per clause (g) of the same, the University cannot ignore the provisions of Chapter XXV (D) and its Regulations in respect of those candidates, who have already been admitted to part-time Ph.D Programme. It has been argued that whereas the petitioner association is concerned only with foundation course, the role of University comes into picture at the stage of examining the candidature of the candidates at the level of Joint Research Committee and till today, only foundation course has been completed by some or the other candidates, but no one has been admitted in the Research Phase.
20. Sri Tripathi has emphasized upon Clause 1.2 of MoU, which says that the petitioner association is a Pioneer in distance education and, therefore, whatever procedure has been adopted by the petitioner association is only for imparting education through distance mode and not through part time mode.
21. Sri Tripathi fairly submits that in case the petitioners continue with their Ph.D Programme as per the part time mode and status, which has been approved at the level of the University, the respondents will have no objection to the same.
22. In sum and substance, the thrust of the University is that if something was ignored at the time of execution of MoU, particularly the UGC Regulations, 2016 and the University is now proceeding to streamline its procedure as per the Regulations, 2016 with reference to Ph.D Programme, no illegality can be pointed out in the order impugned.
23. Sri R.A. Akhtar, learned counsel for the University Grants Commission submits that once the UGC has already framed Regulations, they are mandatory in nature and any deviation from the same would entail consequences. He submits that the record of the proceedings can be examined in the light of the said Regulations.
24. Sri Abrar Ahmad, learned counsel for the Union of India has also argued on the same lines as that of UGC.
25. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties, the issue that arises for consideration is as to whether the Dean of the Aligarh Muslim University, who has issued the order impugned dated 03.06.2022, could cancel the admissions of those candidates, who had been admitted during the subsistence of period of MoU, i.e. before 07.09.2022.
26. Apparently, the impugned order, which runs only in two pages, refers to the recommendations of the Committee formed by the Vice Chancellor and the decision of the Academic Council. The conclusion to cancel the admissions by mentioning the words "in view of the above" persuades this Court to examine the entire record before it. After examining all the documents in relation to the admissions referred to by the learned counsel for both sides, I find that the admissions which were made before five years term of MoU came to an end, neither the Vice Chancellor nor any Committee formed by it nor the Academic Council ever mentioned even a single line, by which the admissions of those, who had already been admitted were directed to be cancelled. Rather, contrary notings and decisions are found as already referred to herein above, by which it becomes clear that the admissions made were saved till the expiry of MoU.
27. Nevertheless, the Court also cannot ignore the effect of UGC Regulations, 2016, which are binding in nature upon all the institutions as well as the University. Restrictions imposed by the UGC under the aforesaid Regulations to run Ph.D Programme through distance learning mode has not been challenged by the petitioner nor can any other opinion be formed in this regard. Once the Regulation 11 of the Regulations of 2016 clearly provides that Ph.D Programme shall not be conducted through distance education mode, this Court cannot read the Regulations in any other way. Therefore, running of any Ph.D Programme through distance education mode is strictly prohibited under the Regulations.
28. The question that arises in the present case is as to whether the Foundation Phase in toto or some of the stages of scrutiny by Joint Research Committee reflect that admissions facilitated by the petitioner-association were in relation to Ph.D course by distance learning mode or by part time mode; the distance learning mode being prohibited.
29. The specific clauses contained under Foundation Phase and Research Phase clearly reflect mandatory attendance of the candidates in both the stages and interaction with the experts by personal contacts. The petitioner association is a body based in New Delhi and personal contacts session is confined to Delhi as per the MoU and J.R.C. proceedings in the Research Phase being confined to University, the only thing that remains to be analyzed is as to whether the admissions facilitated by the petitioner association and running of the aforesaid phases was in part time mode or distance learning mode.
30. The order impugned, apart from mentioning that the decision to cancel admissions has been taken as per the recommendations of the Committee and decision of the Academic Council, does not mention any other aspect of the matter. It does not deal with any clauses or sub-clauses as referred to herein above nor does it in fact contain verbatim reproduction of the actual decisions and recommendations of the Academic Council and the Committee respectively. The students as well as the petitioner association appear not to have been put to notice before passing the order impugned. All the petitioners may have records available with them to establish that admission made as well as conduct of Ph.D course was not in teeth of Regulations of 2016, which have the mandatory force.
31. As regards the different clauses of MoU and the documents referred to by the respective sides, this Court has got a feel that the University admits that one or other clause of MoU was in teeth of Regulations of 2016. In this regard, reference to Sections 20, 21 and 22 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 can be made, which deal with the situation when parties to an agreement are either on mistake of fact or mistake of law. Voidness of voidibility of an agreement on these scores is of substance and in the opinion of the Court the MoU is nothing but a contract in between the petitioner association and the University.
32. All these questions, as referred to herein above, are basically questions of fact and there being no discussion in the order impugned on these aspects, prima facie it cannot be said that the admissions facilitated by the petitioner association during the subsistence of period of MoU were hit by any part of the Regulations either on fact or on law, there being no adjudication of these aspects at the level of University.
33. In so far as the competence of Dean of the Management Studies and Research, A.MU. is concerned, certainly he being only one of the officials of the University, cannot have a power over and above the Vice Chancellor or the Academic Council and his action can be tested with reference to the decision of the apex body(ies) of the University.
34. In view of the above discussion, the order impugned cannot sustain, however, while setting aside the same, certain directions are required to be issued.
35. The writ petitions succeed and are allowed in part in the following terms:-
(i) The order impugned/ office memorandum dated 03.06.2022 is set aside.
(ii) The University shall issue notice to the petitioner-association framing the points on which, according to the University, the admissions vis-a-vis running of Ph.D Programme were in teeth of Clauses 4.1 and 4.2.
(iii) Notice to the aforesaid effect shall be issued before 20.11.2023.
(iv) All the petitioners shall be allowed to respond to the notice with documentary evidence to establish admission and running of course as per UGC Regulations 2016, and the Clauses 4.1 and 4.2 on or before 05.12.2023.
(v) The University shall take a decision in the matter after providing full opportunity of hearing to the petitioners by the end of December, 2023.
(vi) No alteration shall be allowed in the time schedule fixed under this order.
(vii) The decision shall be confined to the actual admissions and running of the course and it will not contain a vague observation that the same has been done in violation of the decision of the University or UGC Regulations, 2016.
(viii) The student petitioners shall make their say through petitioner-association.
(ix) The University shall be very careful in future in executing the MoUs, which cannot and shall not be contrary to the UGC Regulations, 2016 or any other subsequent Regulations, for the time being in force.
36. Partly allowed with aforesaid directions.
Order Date :- 9.10.2023 AKShukla/-