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CASE NO.: Appeal (civil)  5147-5148 of 2005

PETITIONER: LAXMI SHARMA & ORS.                                      

RESPONDENT: V.C., CHHATRAPATI SAHUJI MAHARAJ UNIVERSITY & ORS.                                     

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 23/06/2006

BENCH: Dr.AR. Lakshmanan & Altamas Kabir   

JUDGMENT: J U D G M E N T WITH CIVIL APPEAL NOs. 5149-5150/2005

HIMALAYA AYURVEDIC MEDICAL COLLEGE      .Appellant                 Versus CHANCELLOR,SRI SHAHUJI MAHARAJ  UNIVERSITY& ORS.                                                      .Respondents

                        ALTAMAS KABIR,J.         The appellants in Civil Appeal Nos.5147-5148/2005  were  admitted as students by the Himalaya   Ayurvedic   Mahavidyalaya  between 1992 to 1995 in its Medical College being the    appellant in Civil Appeal Nos. 5149-5150/2005.  Inasmuch  

as, the aforesaid college had not obtained  affiliation from  any recognized  university  the appellants  in the  first set of  appeals were not allowed to appear for examinations   conducted by the university.         It may be indicated that soon after  the aforesaid  college  was established in 1993, the college applied for affiliation under  Section  37 (2)  of the Uttar Pradesh State University Act for the  course of Ayurveda Acharya, Bachelor of  Ayurvedic  Medicine/Surgery,( hereinafter referred to as  ’the BAMS’) to the   Vice-Chancellor of Shri Sahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur,  now  known as Chhatrapati Sahu Ji Maharaj  University.  According to  the college, it admitted three students during the academic year  1992-1993, 15 students for the academic year  1993-1994.  Lastly,   the college admitted 23 students for the  academic year 1994- 1995 without  having obtained affiliation with the aforesaid  university.      It is only after such admissions had been  completed  that the State Government and the Secretary,  Medical  Education, constituted a team to inspect the aforesaid  college to submit a report for the purpose of grant of  affiliation to the college.  The said team members of the  Central Council of Indian Medicine inspected the institution  on 12th August, 1995 and from the inspection report which  has been made part of the records,  it appears that it was  the opinion of the Committee that the college had the  necessary infrastructure for  being granted affiliation to the  university.  On the basis  of the  report of the expert panel,  the Vice Chancellor of the university by his order dated 20th  January, 1997, granted temporary affiliation to the college  for one year  with effect from  1st July, 1996.  Since the  rules do not provide for grant of temporary affiliation, the  college reiterated its prayer for  grant of permanent  

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affiliation  and in connection therewith, the State  Government wrote a letter to the Central Council of Indian    Medicine   on   8th January, 1998 stating that  if the Council  gave its consent then the Government would have no  objection in recommending the case of the  Himalaya  Ayurvedic  Mahavidyalaya for grant of  permanent   affiliation.  The Central Council of Indian Medicine after  conducting a further inspection  of the medical college  granted permission to the college for conducting the BAMS  course for the academic year 1997-1998,  subject to  prior  permission of the State Government and affiliation to the  university.         However, as the appellants in the first set of appeals   were not allowed to appear for the first  professional  examination by the university, they filed two writ petitions,  being nos. 29413/1998 and 30840/1998, before the   Allahabad High Court for being granted permission to  appear in the examination.  By  its interim order dated  11th  September, 1998, the Allahabad High Court allowed the   said appellants to appear  in the first professional  BAMS  examination subject to the condition that their results  would be subject to the decision in the writ petition.  Similarly, by its interim order dated 22nd September, 1998  in Writ Petition  30840/1998, another set of appellants was  permitted to appear in the first professional session of the  BAMS examination on the same conditions.  When a similar  situation occurred  in 1999, another  writ petition was filed  being numbered as 11502/1999  in which similar orders  were passed.         On 8th August, 1999, an  inspection team constituted  by the Vice- Chancellor submitted its report reiterating that  the college fulfilled all the requisite norms for grant of  permanent affiliation.  Accordingly, the said inspection team   recommended that the college be granted  permanent  affiliation in accordance with the provisions of Section  37  (2)  of the University Act.                 While the aforesaid matters were pending, the  Himalaya Ayurvedic  Mahavidyalaya filed a writ petition,  being  No.12643/2000, on 10th April, 2000, before the  Allahabad  High  Court  for  a direction upon the concerned  authorities to grant permanent affiliation to the institution.   In the said writ petition, an interim direction was given to  the State Government to decide the matter of grant of   affiliation to the college  within two weeks.    On   31st  October, 2000, the Chancellor of the university granted  ex- post facto extension  of temporary  affiliation of the college  to  the university  retrospectively from 1st July, 1997 to 30th  June, 1998.  In view of grant of such temporary affiliation,   the university allowed  some of the students  to sit for the  examinations and their results were also declared.  In the  meanwhile, on 11th September, 2002, the Allahabad High  Court by an order passed in W.P.No.12643/2000 allowed  the appellants in the first two set of appeals to appear in the  3rd final professional  examination with a further direction  to declare the results of  such students who had passed   subject to the final decision of the writ petition.  It appears  that  a  Special Leave Petition,   being No.   21312/2002,   was  filed  by  the respondents herein against the said order  of the High Court, but the same was dismissed on 22nd  November, 2002.         On 4th April,  2003, the Registrar of the University  requested the college to  fill the examination forms and to  submit the examination fee of the students so that their  results  could  be      declared.  The said directions were  duly complied with,  but it appears that till  date  the

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results   of the students   have not been declared.         Various writ  petitions  filed by the college and the  students  appeared for final hearing  before the  High Court  and by its order dated 13th May, 2003, the High Court upon  holding that there was no provision for grant of  provisional  affiliation under  the  U.P. State Universities Act dismissed   all  the writ petitions.         While dismissing the said writ applications by a  common order, the Court observed that since temporary  affiliation had been granted to the college with effect from  1st July, 1996 those students who had been admitted   before the said  date and after 30th June, 1998, had been so  admitted illegally in the absence  of any affiliation and as  such their cases could not be considered.     Even in respect  of the students who had been admitted between  1st July,  1996 and 30th June 1998, when the college had been  granted  temporary affiliation, the High Court was of the  view that notwithstanding  any hardship that such   students may have to suffer, the Court could not direct   that they should be allowed to sit  for the examination  or  that their results should be  declared.         Aggrieved by the said judgment and order of the  Allahabad High Court, both the college as well as  the  students  who had been affected,  filed several  Special  Leave Petitions  which were admitted on 18th August, 2005  and were, thereafter,  posted for hearing.   The views expressed by the Allahabad High Court is a  reflection of  the views expressed by this Court in  several  matters where  it had been called upon to consider the  plight of students who had been admitted to colleges  which  did not have the necessary   infrastructure    for   grant    of     affiliation   to    a recognized university.  In several  cases,  this Court  was compelled  to reject the prayers made on  behalf of such students  to allow them to appear  in the   university   examinations  since they had already completed  a certain number of  years of  study in the different course  conducted by  such colleges.      The Allahabad High Court   merely followed what had been dealt with by this Court in  different matters  and  we too would have followed  suit but   for certain  special circumstances  which have  persuaded  us to adopt a different  course of action in the present set   of appeals.         Admittedly, the college   had applied for affiliation soon  after it was established  in 1993 and pursuant to its  application an  inspection  was conducted  by a team   consisting of  members constituted by the State  Government and the Secretary, Medical Education.  Such  inspection was conducted on 12th August, 1995 and  a  recommendation was made that the college was suitable for  grant of  affiliation with the university.  On the basis of  such  inspection   and  recommendation,  the  college was  granted temporary affiliation to the  Respondent No.1- university and pursuant to another inspection conducted   by the Central Council of Indian Medicine, the college  was  granted  further permission to conduct the Ayurveda  Acharya Course for the session 1997-1998.         The matter did not rest there and a  third  inspection  was conducted by an inspection team  constituted by the  Vice Chancellor of the university which submitted its report  on 8th August, 1999 recommending grant of  permanent  affiliation to the college.         It  is, therefore,  evident that from 1995 onwards  during all the three inspections conducted by the different  authorities the college  was found suitable for grant of  permanent affiliation to the university and, in fact,  

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affiliation was granted to the college from 1st July, 1996 till  30th June, 1998.  Students who had been admitted in the  college during this period were allowed by the university to  appear for the final examination  through other institutions  since the temporary affiliation  granted to the college had  not been extended after 30th June, 1998.         As the facts disclosed indicate, there  was always an  expectation  in  the  mind  of  the college     authorities  that  permanent affiliation would be granted to the college, which  also encouraged students to take admission in the hope of  being allowed to sit for the final examination of the  university once such permanent affiliation was granted to  the college.  The High Court also appears to have been  convinced to some extent in this regard on account of the   interim orders passed from time to time allowing the  students to appear for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd professional  sessions of the BAMS examination,  subject of course to the  condition that the results in respect thereof would be  subject to the decision in the writ petition.  On 11th  September, 2002,  the last such interim order was passed  in W.P. No. 12643/2000 and the same reads as follows:-

"Until further orders we direct that the  students of petitioner No.1 shall be permitted  to  appear  in  B.A.M.S.  examination, and  the  results of those who have passed shall be  declared, but this shall be subject to final  decisions of the writ petition."             It is another matter that   consequently  all the writ  petitions were  dismissed on account of  the fact that  permanent   affiliation had not been granted to the college.    Appearing for the appellants in the first two appeals,  Mr. Uday Lalit, learned senior counsel, referred to the  inspection report of the inspection  held on 12th August,  1995, by the inspection team of the Central Council of  Indian Medicine wherein in paragraph 5 the year-wise list of  students admitted in the college has been spelt out.  The  said list indicates that at the time of  inspection there were  23 students in the IVth year  and Mr. Lalit confined his  submissions to the said 23 students only.  He made a  fervent appeal that since the said 23 students had been  allowed by different interim orders to appear in the final  examinations  of each of the three sessions of BAMS course,   results  of those who had  passed should be declared   in  pursuance of the  order dated 11th September,  2002.  He submitted that  the  university should be directed  to declare  at least their results,  particularly when a   Special Leave Petition filed by the respondents against the  said order had been dismissed by this Court on 22nd  November, 2002.         This Court has no doubt indicated on various  occasions that mushrooming  educational institutions,   without having the requisite infrastructure for grant of    recognition, are  harmful to the interest of the students and  that the practice  of allowing  students  of  such institutions   to appear at the  university examinations is to be  deprecated.  However, the facts  of this case, as we have  pointed out earlier, are different from those set of cases  persuading  us to take a  different view.  Three inspections  conducted by three different bodies, including the team  constituted by the Vice-Chancellor, came to the  common  conclusion that the college merited grant of permanent  affiliation.  It is quite likely that such a state of affairs  prompted the High Court to pass the different interim

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orders  by  which   the  students in question were allowed to  complete the BAMS course and to also appear in the final  examination.         In such special circumstances, we allow Civil Appeal  Nos. 5147-5148/2005 only as far as the 23 students of the  IVth year indicated in paragraph 5 of the inspection report  conducted by the members of the Central Council of Indian  Medicine on 12th August, 1995, being Annexure P-2 to the  SLPs, are concerned, but our judgment is not to be treated  as a precedent in future cases.  The university is directed to  declare the results of the said 23 candidates who   completed the course and appeared  for the final  professional BAMS examinations.           As far as the appeals preferred by the college      against the common judgment and the order passed on the  review application are concerned, we agree with the view  expressed by the High Court that it  is not for the Court to  direct the concerned  authorities to grant affiliation as that  would amount to  trespassing on the jurisdiction of the  university.  We can only request the university to consider  the grant of  such  affiliation in view of  the several  inspection reports and the recommendations made by the  inspection teams for grant of such  recognition.  The  appeals preferred by the college are, therefore, disposed of  with a direction upon the university to consider the grant of  permanent affiliation to the college after giving the college  authorities  a reasonable opportunity of being heard.   The parties will bear their own costs.