Karnataka High Court
Sri M Ramesh Naik (Ramesh M.N) vs State Of Karnataka on 16 October, 2020
Bench: B.V.Nagarathna, N S Sanjay Gowda
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU
DATED THIS THE 16TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 2020
PRESENT
THE HON'BLE MRS.JUSTICE B.V.NAGARATHNA
AND
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE N.S.SANJAY GOWDA
W.P.No.6233/2020 (EDN - RES)
BETWEEN:
Sri. M. Ramesh Naik (Ramesh M.N)
Son of Late Sri M.Nagappa Naik,
Aged about 61 years,
Residing of No.3/2,
First Main Mount Joy Extension,
Hanumantha Nagar,
Bengaluru - 560 019. ... PETITIONER
(BY SRI. M.Ramesh Naik, Party-In-Person)
AND:
1. State of Karnataka,
Represented by Chief Secretary
Government of Karnataka,
Vidhana Soudha, Room No.320,
3rd Floor, Bengaluru - 560 001.
2. Additional Chief Secretary
Higher Education Department
Government of Karnataka,
M S Buildings, 6th floor,
Ambedkar Veedhi, Bengaluru - 560 001.
2
3. Vice Chancellor,
Visweswaraya Technological University,
Janana Sanagama, Macche Belgaum - 590 018.
4. Chairman AICTE No.1 Nelson Mandela Marg
Vasant Kunj, New Delhi - 110 070.
... RESPONDENTS
(BY Smt. Pramodini.R. Kishan, AGA for R-1 & R-2)
This Petition is filed under Article 226 and 227 of the
Constitution of India, praying to direct the respondents to
issue endorsement on action taken on all pending petitions
submitted by petitioner within fifteen days and for coming
academic year 2020-2021 plug all loopholes and remove all
anomalies in current education policy for engineering colleges
and show full compliance to Law, Court orders and
ALCTE/UGC norms in matters of admission and collection of
tuition fees.
This petition coming on for Preliminary Hearing this
day, NAGARATHNA, J., delivered the following:
ORDER
This writ petition is filed by Sri M. Ramesh Naik, which is stated to be in public interest and he has appeared as in person through video conference.
2. The prayers sought for in the writ petition and the interim prayers are as under:
"Where as the petitioner respectfully prays this honorable court be pleased to:
12..Issue Writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to issue 3 endorsement on action taken on all pending petitions submitted by petitioner within fifteen days. And For coming academic year 2020-21, plug all loopholes and remove all anomalies in current education policy for engineering colleges and show full compliance to law., court orders and AICTE/UGC norms in matters of admission and collection of tuition fees.
13..Issue Writ in the nature of mandamus directing respondents 1,2 3 and 4 to strictly implement supreme court orders and AICTE/UGC norms in matters of admission process and tuition fee collection. And to quash and declare as void, all such admissions done de horse merit in violation of law from 2006 to 2019
14.Issue orders to respondents 1 and 2 not to sign consensual agreement with association of unaided colleges and not to announce admission policy for year 2020-21 till all complaints and petitions made by petitioner are adjudicated and action as per law taken and a report filed before this honorable court.
AND 15/Pass such other necessary orders as deemed just and expedient in the 4 circumstances of the case along with the costs of this petition in the interest of justice and equity.
INTERIM PRAYER
16. Petitioner humbly prays for immediate stay of announcement of admission policy, and admission process and signing of consensual agreement for year 2020-21 till directions issued by this honorable court are complied with."
3. The petitioner who is appearing in person drew our attention to the prayers sought for in the writ petition as well as in the interim prayer. He contended, earlier, he had filed writ petition in W.P.No.25533/2018, which was disposed of by a co-ordinate Bench of this Court on 25.09.2019 by issuing a direction to the State Government to look into the allegations made by the petitioner with regard to the irregularities and illegalities in the matter of admission of students to the Engineering and Architectural courses by the respective Colleges and to initiate appropriate action in accordance with law. Neither such action has been initiated nor any endorsement has been issued by the State Government to him.
5
4. Secondly, he submitted, for the academic year 2020-2021, there are several loopholes and anomalies in the current education policy for Engineering courses and there is no compliance of the Court orders and AICTE/UGC norms in the matter of admission of students and collection of tuition fees by the colleges.
5. He further contended that respondent Nos.1 to 4 may be directed to implement the orders of the Supreme Court and AICTE/UGC norms in the matter of admission process and collection of tuition fee and there has been no such compliance for the academic years 2006 to 2019. Therefore, to quash all such admissions and declare the said admissions done de hors merit in violation of law is the plea.
6. He submitted that respondent Nos.1 and 2 may be restrained from signing the consensual agreement with the association of unaided colleges and not to announce the admission policy for the year 2020-2021 till the petitions made by the petitioners are adjudicated and action is taken as per the law and report is filed before this Court. 6
7. He submitted that pending disposal of this writ petition, this Court may stay announcement of admission policy and admission process and signing of the consensual agreement for the year 2020 - 2021 till further directions are issued by this Court.
8. Learned Additional Government Advocate appearing for respondent Nos.1 and 2 on advanced notice submitted that these prayers cannot be granted as they are vague. Earlier, writ petition was filed by the same petitioner in WP.No.25533/2018 as a public interest litigation, this Court did not entertain the same, in fact, it observed that the Court was not satisfied that the petitioner is a pro bono litigant, who could maintain a public interest litigation. Therefore, only observation made was, the State Government to look into the allegations made regarding the irregularities and illegalities in the petition and initiate appropriate action in accordance with law.
9. She submitted that respondent Nos.1 & 2 have taken note of the same and accordingly, they have announced the admissions for the academic year and they 7 have entered into the consensual agreement and announced the policy of admission for the academic year 2020-2021. It is for the State Government to issue an endorsement to the petitioner and no direction could be issued to the State Government to issue an endorsement, that the State Government has complied with all the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and AICTE/UGC norms in the matter of admission and collection of tuition fees, therefore, the petitioner cannot seek quashing of admissions made for the academic years 2006-2019 and such prayers cannot be considered in this writ petition. She submitted that neither any public interest is served in filing this petition nor can the petitioner prevent State Government from signing the consensual agreement with the private colleges. Therefore, the writ petition may be dismissed at the threshold and not be entertained any further.
10. Learned Additional Government Advocate submits that there is already a consensual agreement which has been signed on 02.09.2020, therefore, the said prayer has been rendered as infructuous.
8
11. We have also perused a copy of the consensual agreement dated 02.09.2020 signed between the Government of Karnataka and the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges' Association (KUPECA). In the matter of regulating admissions and fee structure to the undergraduate courses in private professional colleges of Engineering/Architecture for the academic year 2020-2021, a copy of which has been made available by learned Additional Government Advocate, who has appeared in person in the Court hall. There is also another consensual agreement between the Government of Karnataka and the Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Professional Colleges' Association (KRLMPCA), a copy of which is also furnished and perused by us which is also dated 02.09.2020.
12. We have considered the submissions of the petitioner and learned Additional Government Advocate in light of the prayers sought for by the petitioner.
13. The first prayer of the petitioner is to issue a direction to the respondents to issue an endorsement to the petitioner on action taken on all the pending petitions 9 submitted by the petitioner within fifteen days. In our view such direction can be issued to the respondents, it is for the respondents to consider the representation/petition submitted by the petitioner herein in accordance with law as far as the academic year 2020-2021 is concerned.
14. The next direction as sought for is that all the anomalies in the current education policy shall be removed and there shall be compliance of the Court orders and AICTE/UGC norms in the matter of admission and collection of tuition fees. It goes without saying that it is incumbent for the respondents to comply with all the Court orders and the AICTE/UGC norms wherever applicable in the matter of admission and collection of tuition fee.
15. As far as the declaration sought that all admissions from the years 2006-2019 are concerned as null and void, we find that such a prayer is not only highly belated but also too widely worded and far fetched which cannot be considered in a public interest litigation as the said prayer is very vague.
10
16. Further respondent Nos.1 and 2 have taken a policy decision to sign consensual agreements with association of unaided colleges for the academic year 2020-2021. Learned Additional Government Advocate has submitted that there is already such agreements which have come into existence on 02.09.2020. Therefore, the prayer to restrain respondent Nos.1 and 2 from signing the agreements would not now arise.
15. In the circumstances, we do not find any merit in the prayers sought for by the petitioner in this writ petition, we do not think the petitioner would call for any further consideration. Hence, it is dismissed.
Sd/-
JUDGE Sd/-
JUDGE KTY