Jammu & Kashmir High Court
Himalayan Gram Vikas Society vs Hemant Kr Sharma on 5 August, 2021
Author: Tashi Rabstan
Bench: Tashi Rabstan
219
HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH
AT JAMMU
CPOWP No. 89/2016 in
OWP No. 500/2014
CM Nos. 4359/2019,
4360/2019
in
OWP No. 500/2014
IA No. 659/2014
CM No. 4357/2019
Himalayan Gram Vikas Society, Kathua .....Petitioner(s)
Through: Mr. Sachin Sharma, Advocate
Vs.
Hemant Kr Sharma, Secy Higher Education ..... Respondent(s)
and others
Through: None
Coram: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TASHI RABSTAN, JUDGE
ORDER
OWP No. 500/2014
1. The case as projected by the petitioner in this writ petition is that the petitioner is a society registered with the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir and with an objective to provide education to the people of remote areas of the State the petitioner society took a decision for establishment of a B.Ed. college at Kathua, Jammu under the name and style of "Himalayan College of Education, Kathua" and accordingly raised structures on the land belonging to the society.
2. It is contended that the petitioner, being fully qualified for grant of sanction by the respondent No. 1 to run a college of Education, applied for opening of an educational institution under the Jammu and Kashmir Private Colleges (Regulation and Control) Act of 2002 read with rules framed there 2 OWP No. 500/2014 under, known as Jammu and Kashmir Private Colleges (Regulation and Control) Rules of 2005. It is further contended that before grant of permission for setting up of a private college for any course, under and in terms of Rule-7 of Rules of 2005, a preliminary inspection of the proposed site has to be conducted by a committee constituted vide Government Order No. 69-HE of 2006 dated 15.03.2006 for conduct of inspection of institutions seeking permission for establishment of an institution to impart higher education and as per Rule 7(3), the report of the committee is to be examined by the competent authority who may grant permission for setting up of an institution.
3. It is stated that in the year 2003, the petitioner by way of an application addressed to the Hon'ble Minister of Higher Education J&K Govt. applied for the college and for grant of NOC, who vide its receipt No. HGVS/2003 dated 06.09.2003 directed the concerned to examine the matter and put up the case of the petitioner before the clearance committee meeting. It is further stated that the petitioner received a letter No. CDC/2004/2207-10 dated 07.08.2004 from the office of Director Colleges Development to deposit an amount of Rs. 50,000/- as inspection fee with the cashier, University of Jammu and the petitioner deposited the same against proper receipt, but the respondents never effectively considered the case of the petitioner for the one reason or the other and denied for grant of NOC.
4. It is contended that vide order dated 30.08.2005 passed in a Public Interest Litigation being WPPIL No. 1233/2004 this Court directed not to process the applications for opening of new colleges and subsequently vide order dated 10.04.2007 this Court while disposing of the said PIL directed the respondents to consider the pending cases of the applicants for grant of sanction in terms of J&K Private Colleges (Regulation and Control) Rules, 3 OWP No. 500/2014 2005. It is further contended that the Govt. of J&K vide its Order No. 142-HE of 2007 dated 19.07.2007 accorded sanction to the approval of the recommendations contained on the draft policy for rationalization and regularization of private B.Ed Colleges in the J&K State. Sanction was also accorded to the moratorium on the opening of new private B.Ed. colleges for a period of two years. However, despite having statutory obligation to conduct inspection of the petitioner's institute, the respondent No. 2 has not till date conducted the inspection of the proposed site, due of which the case of the petitioner cannot be forwarded to the competent authority for grant of sanction of establishment of B.Ed. College.
5. Mr. Sachin Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioner has produced Government Order No. 137-HE of 2019 dated 11.03.2019, whereby sanction has been accorded to the constitution of the committees for conducting inspection of Private Un-aided colleges functioning in the State. The same is taken on record.
6. This Court vide order dated 03.04.2014 while issuing notice, directed the respondents to conduct the inspection of the proposed site of petitioner's institute in case all the formalities have been complied with, however, no one has appeared for the respondents. Objections to the writ petition have been filed.
7. At this stage, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that he will be satisfied in case this writ petition is disposed of by directing the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner for deputing an inspection committee to conduct the inspection of the proposed site of institute of the petitioner society.
4 OWP No. 500/2014
8. Accordingly, this writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner for deputing inspection committee to conduct the inspection of the proposed site of the institute of the petitioner society situated at Hatli Morh, Kathua, within a period of four weeks from the date a copy of this order along with complete set of paper book of this writ petition is provided to them, provided the petitioner has fulfilled all the terms and conditions.
9. The writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of.
10. In view of disposal of the main writ petition, the contempt petition CPOWP No. 89/2016 shall also stands closed.
(Tashi Rabstan) Judge JAMMU 05.08.2021 Pawan Angotra Whether the order is speaking? : Yes/No Whether the order is reportable? : Yes/No PAWAN ANGOTRA 2021.08.09 17:03 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document