Karnataka High Court
Amrith Educational And Cultural ... vs State Of Karnataka And Another on 8 February, 1996
Equivalent citations: ILR1996KAR860, 1996(3)KARLJ272, AIR 1997 KARNATAKA 44, (1996) ILR (KANT) 860 (1996) 3 KANT LJ 272, (1996) 3 KANT LJ 272
ORDER
1. The first petitioner is a society registered under the provisions of the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960. Petitioner No. 2 claims to be its Secretary-cum-Treasurer. According to the petitioners all the members of the society are Telugu speaking thus constituting a linguistic minority in the State of Karnataka.
2. The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioners for issuance of a writ of mandamus to accord sanction/affiliation to the first petitioner for starting a new course of Bachelor of Education at Kolar. The grievance is that they have been denied the said right of establishment of the institution for intellectual, academic and professional advancement of its members though guaranteed under Art. 30 of the Constitution of India, under the impugned order dated 27-11-1993 (Annexure-S) passed by the respondent State.
3. Mr. Narasimha Murthy, learned Sr. Advocate appearing for the petitioners has raised various contentions in support of the prayers made in the petition. His submission is that the petitioner society has been denied the right of affiliation to the University arbitrarily and by causing hostile discrimination. To substantiate his grounds of attack he has taken me through the orders passed by the Government and the orders passed by this Court in the earlier writ petitions. According to him, the policy decision taken by the Government with regard to non-grant of permission to start new Teachers Education Institutions as approved by the Division Bench in the case of All Ameen Educational Society v. State of Karnataka, ILR (1989) Kant 2715, cannot stand in the way of the petitioner in view of the observation made in paragraph 44 at page 2760 of that judgment. According to him, by carving out an exception to the general policy decision, the State had agreed to accord affiliation to All Ameen Educational Societies by obviously contravening the said Bench decision as affirmed by the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 1853 of 1990. He also refers to the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Vellore Educational Trust v. State of Andhra Pradesh, to substantiate that if the affiliation is granted to one institution against the policy decision of the Government, it is incumbent upon the Government to grant similar permission to other similarly situated institutions as well. In paragraph 10 of the report, their Lordships have held that :
"The impugned order made by the respondent-1 refusing to grant permission solely on the ground of policy of the Government is in our considered opinion not at all tenable as we have stated hereinbefore that such permission has already been accorded to establish private engineering college to Nagarjuna Education Society on Nov. 15, 1985. Moreover the application for permission was filed along before the Alleged policy in question was adopted by the respondent 1."
4. Though Mr. Srinivasa Reddy, learned Government Advocate has tried to defend the impugned order of the Government by justifying the grant of affiliation to A1 Ameen Educational Institutions; but, in my opinion the explanation does not appear to be very plausible. I, speaking for myself, prima facie strongly feel persuaded by the submissions made by Mr. Narasimha Murthy in support of the petitioners' claim. But, I find a stumbling-block coming in the way of granting the relief as claimed.
5. While going ahead with the present judgment, I have came across the provisions of the National Council for Teachers Education Act 1993 (for brevity, 'the Central Act'). Pursuant to the notification of the Central Government issued under S. 1(3) of the said Act, it has come into force from 1-7-1995.
6. Section 14 and S. 16 of the Act reads as under :
"14. (i) Every institution offering or intending to offer a course or training in teacher education on or after the appointed day, may, for grant of recognition under this Act, make an application to the Regional Committee concerned in such form and in such manner as may be determined by regulations :
Provided that an institution offering a course or training in teacher education immediately before the appointed day, shall be entitled to continue such course or training for a period of six months, if it has made an application for recognition within the said period and until the disposal of the application by the Regional Committee.
(2) The fee to be paid along with the application under sub-sec. (1) shall be such as maybe prescribed.
(3) On receipt of an application by the Regional Committee from any institution under sub-sec. (1), and after obtaining from the institution concerned such other particulars as it may consider necessary, it shall,--
(a) if it is satisfied that such institution has adequate financial recourses, accommodation, library, qualified staff, laboratory and that it fulfils such other conditions required for proper functioning of the institution for a course or training in teacher education, as may be determined by regulations, pass an order granting recognition to such institution, subject to such conditions as may be determined by regulations; or
(b) if it is of the opinion that such institution does not fulfil the requirements laid down in sub-clause (a), pass an order refusing recognition to such institution for reasons to be recorded in writing :
Provided that before passing an order under sub-clause (b), the Regional Committee shall provide a reasonable opportunity to the concerned institution for making a written representation.
(4) Every order granting or refusing recognition to an institution for a course or training in teacher education under sub-sec. (3) shall be published in the Official Gazette and communicated in writing for appropriate action to such institution and to the concerned examining body, the local authority or the State Government and the Central Government.
(5) Every institution, in respect of which recognition has been refused shall discontinue the course or training in teacher education from the end of the academic session next following the date of receipt of the order refusing recognition passed under clause (b) of sub-sec. (3).
(6) Every examining body shall, on receipt of the order under sub-sec. (4),--
(a) grant affiliation to the institution, where recognition has been granted; or
(b) cancel the affiliation of the institution, where recognition has been refused."
"16. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no examining body shall, on or after the appointed day,--
(a) grant affiliation, whether provisional or otherwise, to any institution; or
(b) hold examination, whether provisional or otherwise, for a course or training conducted by a recognised institution, unless the institution concerned has obtained recognition from the Regional Committee concerned, under S. 14 or permission for a course or training under S. 15."
7. Section 2(a) of the Act defines 'appointed day' to mean the date of establishment of the National Council for Teacher Education under sub-sec. (1) of Section 3. Clause (d) of S. 2 defines 'examining body' inter alia to mean a University, agency or authority to which an institution is affiliated for conducting examinations in teacher education qualifications. "Institution" has been defined to be an institution which offers course or training in teacher education. Clauses (1) and (m) further defines 'teacher education' and 'teacher education qualification' which undisputedly includes a degree in teacher education awarded by the University.
8. In the case State of Tamil Nadu v. Adhiyaman Educational and Research Institute, it has been held by the Apex Court that keeping in view Entry 66 of List I and Entry 25 of List III of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, in the case of repugnancy between the legislation made by the Parliament and that made by the State Legislature on a topic of education, the former shall prevail and to that extent later shall be void unless it could be shown to have been saved by Art. 254(2) of the Constitution.
9. From a reading of the said provisions under the Central Act and the constitutional limitations, it is crystal clear that as the law stands now the petitioner cannot be granted the desired reliefs unless it secures recognition in terms of S. 14 of the Central Act.
10. It appears that pursuant to the power conferred under S. 3(1) of the Central Act, the Central Government has established the National Council under its notification No. SO 702 AE dated 17th August, 1995 thereby bringing the provisions of S. 14 of the said Act into operation.
11. Mr. Narasimha Murthy, learned Sr. Advocate appearing for the petitioner, on going through the provisions of the Central Act, fairly conceded that in view of the changed legal spectrum he cannot insist for grant of affiliation to the petitioner institution till due recognition is obtained from the Regional Committee under S. 14 of the Central Act. In this view of the matter, no relief as claimed by the petitioner can be granted. It is left open for the petitioner to make necessary application for grant of recognition to the Regional Committee.
12. At this stage, Mr. Srinivasa Reddy, learned Additional Government Advocate brings to my notice S. 5 of the Karnataka Prohibition of Admission of Students to the Unrecognised and Unaffiliated Educational Institutions Act, 1992 (Karnataka Act 7/93) (in short, 'the State Act') as substituted by the Karnataka Ordinance No. 10 of 1995 to bring home the point that keeping in view the provisions thereof, if the Government so decides it can permit the students of even unrecognised Teacher Training Institutions to appear at the examination. The English translation of the said provision as furnished by him reads as under :
"Power to issue directions. -- Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any law for the time being in force where students have been admitted to B.Ed. Course or TCH Course in a New College or in an existing college, to which affiliation has not been granted or where students have been admitted in excess of the intake and where such students have not been allowed to appear for the examination during the academic year of 1994-95, the State Government may, if it considers necessary so to do, issue directions to the Karnataka State Secondary Education Examination Board, or to the University established under the Karnataka. State Universities Act, 1976 (Karnataka Act 28 of 1976) and subject to such conditions as may be specified in such direction, to conduct the examinations for such students within four months from the date of issue of such directions and it shall be the duty of such Board or University to comply with such directions."
13. By referring to the said provision, learned Additional Government Advocate submits that in view of the said provisions under the State Act, the State Government has competence to direct the examining authorities like the Karnataka State Secondary Education Examination Board or the University established under the Karnataka State Universities Act, 1976 to conduct examination for students of unaffiliated institutions/colleges. In my opinion, such a stand raised on behalf of the State cannot be accepted in view of the scheme and mandate as contained in Chapter IV of the Central Act. The Parliament keeping in view the desirability of achieving planned and co-ordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country, the regulation and maintenance of proper norms and standards in the teacher education system has enacted the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993.
14. The scheme of the Central Act clearly envisages that after coming into force the Chapter IV of the Act, no examining body can either grant affiliation or hold examinations of the teacher's training conducted by an institution even if duly recognised under the State laws unless the institution/s concerned has obtained recognition from the Regional Committee under S. 14 of the Central Act.
15. Mr. Reddy submits that S. 16 does not specifically prohibit holding of examinations of students trained by an unrecognised institution, and, therefore the State Government can validity issue directions in this behalf. In my opinion, acceptance of such a plea will be destructive of the very underlying spirit and purpose of Chapter IV of the Central Act which has been intended to be enacted for maintenance of norms and standards in teacher education system. This view of mine finds ample support from S. 17(4) of the Central Act which reads as under :
"If an institution offers any course or training in teacher education after the coming into force of the order withdrawing recognition under sub-sec. (1) or where an institution offering a course or training in teacher education immediately before the appointed day fails or neglects to obtain recognition or permission under this Act, the qualification in teacher education obtained pursuant to such course or training or after undertaking a course or training in such institution, shall not be treated as a valid qualification for the purposes of employment under the Central Government, any State Government or University, or in any school, college or other educational body aided by the Central Government or any State Government."
16. Therefore, in my opinion, provisions of S. 5 of the State Act being repugnant to the provisions of the Central Act has to be held as void and therefore it cannot be resorted to by the State Government for permitting the students of recognised or unrecognised institutions to sit at the examinations conducted by the examining bodies except on fulfilment of the requirements contained in Ss. 14 and 16 of the Central Act.
17. With the aforesaid observations and directions, the writ petition is dismissed. There will be no order as to costs.
18. A copy of this order shall be given to Sri Srinivasa Reddy, Additional Government Advocate for communicating to the concerned Secretary to Government for necessary action.
19. Petition dismissed.