IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 16059 of 2008 Between: Nallamalli Mani Rakesh, S/o. N. Yesupadam, R/o. Opp : CEZM Elementary School, Laxmivanipeta, Eluru, West Godavari District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Dr. N.T.R. University of Health Sciences, Rep by its Registrar, Vijayawada, Krishna District. 2 Jeevan Jyothi B.Sc. (N) College, Rep by its Principal, Door No.14-4-129, Morrispet, Tenali, Guntur District. 3 The Board of Intermediate Education, Andhra Pradesh, at Hyderabad, Rep by its Secretary .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 1st respondent university in not considering for issuance of equivalency certificate of intermediate for the course of pre-university course of Janardhan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidhyapeeth, Udaipur, Rajasthan State, when issued to other students who are similarly placed like the petitioner and further declare the impugned memo No. 150/A3/2007, dated 30.6.2008 issued by the 1st respondent with regard to the petitioner, as illegal, arbitrary, discrimination and violation of issue Equivalency Certificate to the petitioner as was issued to similarly situated students, and pass Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.K.VISWANATHAM Counsel for Respondent No.1: MR.D.V.NAGARJUNA BABU Counsel for Respondent No.2: Kum. C. Sindhu Kumari The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed by Nallamalli Mani Rakesh with a prayer to issue a writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the NTR University of Health Sciences, in not considering for issuance of equivalency certificate of intermediate for the course of pre-university course of Janardhan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidhyapeeth, Udaipur, Rajasthan State, as illegal and arbitrary. The petitioner passed S.S.C. in the year 2001-2002 in C.S.I. English Medium High School, Eluru, West Godavari District. He pursued Pre-University Course through Distance Education conducted by Janardhan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidhyapeeth, Udaipur, Rajasthan State. Thereafter, he joined in B.Sc. Degree in Sri Velagapudi Ramakrishna Degree College, Eluru, which is affiliated to Andhra University. After completing first year, he discontinued the studies and joined in B.Sc. Nursing in Jeevan Jyothi B.Sc. (N) College, Tenali, Guntur District-second respondent. After admission into the second respondent college, Dr. N.T.R. University of Health Sciences, Vijayawada, Krishna District-first respondent issued the impugned Memo No.150/A3/07, dated 30.06.2008 rejecting the request of the petitioner to issue equivalency certificate. The said proceedings are under challenge in this writ petition. When the writ petition came up for admission, Sri D.V. Nagarjuna Babu, learned Standing Counsel for the first respondent college received notice. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the first respondent is not justified in rejecting the request of the petitioner to issue equivalency certificate, when the request of the similarly situated persons is considered. The learned counsel refers the certificate dated 18.12.2004 issued by the first respondent university in respect of one Mr. Gulam Dastagir, who is stated to have pursued pre-university course through Janardhan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidhyapeeth, Udaipur, Rajasthan State. The learned Standing Counsel appearing for the first respondent submits that the issue involved in this writ petition is no more res integra in view of the decision of this Court in W.P.No.5363 of 2006 and batch dated 4.08.2006 and the consequent Writ Appeal in W.A.No.997 of 2006 dated 11.10.2006. The issue involved in the above referred batch of writ petitions is whether the pre-university certificate issue by the Janardhan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidhyapeeth, Udaipur, Rajasthan State, a deemed university, is equivalent to the Intermediate Course of the State of A.P. This Court after elaborately considering the issue, came to the conclusion that the certificate issued by various individuals/authorities without any authority of law are of no avail. For better appreciation, I may refer paras 18 and 19 of the judgment in the above referred batch cases, which read hereunder. 18. “It is for the academic bodies to decide the question of equivalence and the Courts, which do not possess academic expertise, cannot sit over the decision of such bodies. The Academic Body/University is the appropriate authority to decide whether any examination held by a University outside the State is equivalent to an examination held within the State having regard to the courses, the syllabus, the quality of teaching or instruction and the standard of examination. The standard of education varies from State to State or University to University or Board to Board. In such a situation, equivalency of degrees must be considered for the said purpose by an appropriate authority. It is also well settled proposition that when a particular body is conferred with specific power, the said body alone is competent and no other person or body of persons can exercise that power. In this case, the Board of Intermediate Education is only the authority competent to decide the issue of equivalency, and, after consideration of the matter relating to grant of equivalency, the Board had rejected to grant equivalency to the certificates issued by the Janardhan Raj Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur, Rajasthan State. Hence, the certificates issued by various individuals/authorities without any authority of law and relied upon by the petitioners are of no avail. In the absence of any material to show that the said Pre- university course undergone by the petitioners is equivalent to intermediate course, petitioners are not entitled for the relief as prayed for. 19. It is stated that though some of the students joined in private engineering colleges, and are at the end of the first semester, they were not allowed to write examinations on the ground that they are not at all qualified to enter into such course. This Court, at the stage of admission, granted interim orders to continue the petitioners to prosecute their studies and made it clear that they shall not claim any equity and the prosecution of the course will be subject to the result of the writ petitions. The fault lies with the Engineering Colleges, which admitted the petitioners, as the Principals of these Engineering Colleges must have taken care to confirm as to the eligibility of the students before admitting them. The student community, at large, while choosing the courses and the universities, should act prudently, or else their career would be in jeopardy. In any event, in matters of this nature, which have far- reaching consequences on the student community as a whole, petitioners cannot be allowed to continue the course in which they have joined and have been prosecuting their studies pursuant to the interim orders of this Court, as they are not qualified to enter into such course right from inception. In view of the proposition laid down by this Court in the above referred decision, the relief sought for by the petitioner cannot be granted. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is dismissed at the admission stage. _________________________ (B. Seshasayana Reddy, J.) 25th July, 2008 Js. ASSISTANT REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1 Dr. N.T.R. University of Health Sciences, Rep by its Registrar, Vijayawada, Krishna District. 2 Jeevan Jyothi B.Sc. (N) College, Rep by its Principal, Door No.14-4-129, Morrispet, Tenali, Guntur District. 3 The Board of Intermediate Education, Andhra Pradesh, at Hyderabad, Rep by its Secretary 4 2 CD copies.