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2. State support to Private Educational Institutions in Karnataka has been for the past over three decades regulated by executive instructions issued from time to time. The instructions described as Grant-in-Aid Codes for Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and Collegiate Education, exist even for other Institutions like Primary and Secondary Teachers Training Institutes and Colleges. The instructions make it clear that aid cannot be claimed as a matter of right and reserve in favour of the State Government the power to withdraw or reduce the grant at its discretion or to alter, modify or review the relevant rules at any time.

The petitioners have in these petitions, assailed the constitutional validity of the above on a variety of grounds. Some of the petitioners established before the cut-off date are aggrieved of the provisions of Rule 16(xiii) of the Grant-in-Aid Code for the Secondary Schools, insofar as the same envisages grant of aid from the date the competent authority makes an order and not the date from which the institution becomes eligible for the same.

7. Submissions made by learned Counsel for the parties have broadly speaking revolved round the following questions that fall for determination.

(7) Is Rule 16(xiii) of the Grant-in-Aid Code for Secondary Schools a legally valid provision?

(8) Are the petitioners entitled to complain about the grant and/or continuance of aid to institutions that do not qualify for the same? If so has there been any failure on the part of State in applying the provisions of the Education Act or the Grant in Codes.

Reg. Question No. 1:

8. The petitioners have not either in the writ petitions or at the hearing claimed any fundamental right to receive financial aid from the State. The nearest they could take their claim was to the provisions of Articles 45 and 46 of the Constitution which declare free and compulsory education for all children below the age of 14 years and promotion of education and economic interests of weaker sections of the people in particular of SC/STs as constitutional goals. It was contended that since free and compulsory education was one of the directive principles of State Policy, any agency which assisted the State in its endeavour could claim financial assistance in the form of Grant-in-Aid, as a matter of right.

Similar provisions are made in the Code for Secondary Schools. Rule 9 of the said Code requires the Department to be satisfied about the premises and its location, the accommodation and the equipment besides the financial resources of the management. The rule prescribes the sizes of the classrooms, the Laboratory, and the furniture etc. Rules 11 to 13 deal with recognition of such institutions and prescribe the conditions under which the institutions can be permanently recognised. Chapter IV of the Code deals with Grant-in-Aid and the conditions subject to which the same can be granted, recognition of the Institution heing one such condition. The Scheme underlying the Code regulating the collegiate education is near similar. Suffice it to say that no educational institution offering education at any level could be established without the permission of the competent authority nor could any such institution be recognised unless it satisfied the conditions precedent prescribed for the purpose. Grant-in-Aid could follow only if the institution satisfied the requirements for recognition which in turn required the institution to have the necessary infrastructure.