IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 19064 of 2008 Between: Khazi Meer Abdul Azeem Minorities Junior College Sponsored by Ali Educational Society, Rep. byits Secretary/ Correspondent Syed Yakub Ali S/o. M.A. Azeem, Aged about 63 Years, R/o. Fayda Street, Chandole Post, P.V. Palem Mandal, Guntur District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. byits Principal Secretary to Government, Higher Education (IE.I) Department, A.P. Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The Director of Intermediate Education, Nampally, Hyderabad. .....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 a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ or direction or order declaring the establishment of New Govt. Junior College for Girls at Chandole at Sl.No. 9 under G.O.Ms.No. 189, Higher Education (IE.I) Dept., dated 25-08-2008 issued by the ﬁrst respondent is illegal, arbitrary, unjust, improper one sided and also contrary to Para I (V) of G.o.Ms.NO. 14, Higher Education (C.E.III2)j Department, dated 9-8-2000 without considering the factual and legal aspect of the functioning of the present colleges at Chandole and P.V. palem more particularly the sanctioned seats and number of seats ﬁlled and vacancies available therein as contemplated under G.O.Ms.No. 114, dated 9-8-2000 and accordingly the same is liable to be cancelled, else petitioner college will suffer grave and irreparable loss. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.SRINIVAS EMANI Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR HIGHER EDUCATION The Court made the following : ORDER This writ petition has been ﬁled by Khazi Meer Abdul Azeem Minorities Junior College sponsored by Ali Educational Society represented by its Secretary/Correspondent Syed Yakub Ali assailing the action of the 1st respondent in establishing Government College at Chandole Village vide G.O.Ms.No.189, Higher Education (IE.I) Department, dated 25.8.2008. The petitioner college is run by Ali Educational Society with registration No.30 of 1992. It has been established in the minority status and it is a co-education college. The Government considered representations of the public and took decision and established degree colleges at various places. One such place is at Chandole. The College is established exclusively for girls. Accordingly, the Government issued G.O.Ms.No.189, Higher Education (IE.I) Department dated 25.8.2008, wherein at serial No.9, the Government Junior College Girls at Chandole, P.V.Palem Mandal, Guntur District is indicated. The grievance of the petitioner is that there are enough number of junior colleges in P.V.Palem Mandal and there are quite number of vacant seats in the existing junior colleges and therefore, establishing Government Junior College for Girls is against the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Education Act. For better understanding of the grievance of the petitioner, I deem it appropriate to refer paragraph No.3 of the writ affidavit and it is thus: “I submit that there is one high school by name Neli Bangaraiah Zilla Parishad High School at Chandole and three other high schools in P.V.Palem Mandal totaling to about four high schools. The names of the high schools are (1) ZP High School, Chandole, P.V.Palem Mandal (2) Government High School, P.V.Palem (3) Z.P.H School, Manthenavari Palem, P.V.Palem Mandal (4) Z.P.H School, Khazi Palem, P.V.Palem mMandal. The strength of the students for the academic year 2008-09 for the above said respective schools are boys 60+Girls 71, total 131, boys 45, girls 26, total 71; Boys 50, Girls 49, total 99 and boys 69, Girls 57, total 126, as such the total strength of the boys in the above said four respective schools are 224 and girls are 203, totaling to 427 who are likely to appear for the forthcoming examinations. The strength of the students appearing for the SSC examination is almost the same strength rounding about 400 students every year for the last several years. Further the strength of the girls student from Z.P High School, Chandole whoa re appearing for the SSC examination for the academic year 2003-04 are 60 in numbers, 2004-05 are 61, 2005-06 are 90, 2006-07 are 76, 2007-08 are 71 and out of which the candidates passed for the academic year 2007-08 from ZP High School, Chandole are 43. According to the above said analysis there is no much diﬀerence in the strength of the students appearing for the SSC examinations and the percentage of the successful students. Generally the students who are successful in the above said four schools are likely to opt for higher education by seeking admissions in the junior colleges established in our P.V.Palem Mandal which are ﬁve in numbers.” When the writ petition came up for admission, learned Government Pleader for Higher Education received notice on behalf of R1 and R2. The 1st respondent ﬁled counter-aﬃdavit. J.Venugopal has sworn to the counter-aﬃdavit. It is stated in the counter-aﬃdavit that the Government Junior College for Girls has been established at Chandole as a welfare measure and there cannot be any comparison between private institution and a Government College. For better appreciation, I deem it appropriate to refer Paragraph No.7 of the counter-affidavit and it is thus: “It is submitted that after examination of the entire matter and detailed deliberations at various levels, the Government have worked out a scheme of proposals keeping in view the above directions of Hon’ble High Court. The Hon’ble High Court has suggested certain amendments and after obtaining necessary permission of the Hon’ble High Court, the Government have accorded approval of the following schemes for establishment of new private junior colleges and additional sections in private junior colleges including vocational junior colleges from the academic year 2000-01 vide G.O.Ms.114, Higher Education (CE.III.2) Department, dt.9.8.2000: For sanction of a new junior College under private Management: (i) Revenue Mandal is taken as a unit of area (ii)Wherever the number of SSC pass outs is more than 220, a new college can be permitted, in Mandals without any Junior College and in Mandals with only Government Junior College, only after exhausting the sanctioned strength in such Government Junior Colleges. When the writ petition came up for admission, with the consent of both the parties, the writ petition itself is taken up for final disposal. Heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for High Education appearing for the respondents. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that 1st respondent proceeded to issue G.O establishing Government College for Girls at Chandole without there being any proper survey with regard to need for establishing a junior college and therefore, GO issued to the extent of establishing Government Junior College at Chandole is liable to be set aside. Learned counsel for the petitioner took me to G.O.Ms.No.114 whereunder certain guidelines for opening new private college/additional sections in the state have been issued. Learned counsel placed reliance on a Judgment of Division Bench of this Court in Government of AP vs., St.Anthony’s Educational Society[1]. Learned Government Pleader for Higher Education appearing for the respondents 1 and 2 submits that GO Ms.No.1145 cannot be made applicable to the Government establishing a junior college for Girls as a welfare measure. A further submission has been made that Section 20 of the AP Education Act refers to permission for establishment of educational institutions by the educational agencies and it does not deals with the situation with regard to establishment of a Government Junior College. Indisputably there is no Government Junior College for Girls in P.V.Palem Mandal. For the ﬁrst time the Government as a welfare measure established Government Junior College for Girls at Chandole, P.V.Palem Mandal. The policy decision taken by the Government does not violate any of the constitutional or legal rights of the petitioner institution. The fact that the petitioner institution is not able to fulﬁll its intake capacity cannot be a ground to set aside the GO impugned in the writ petition. The Supreme Court in Ugar Sugar Works Ltd., v. Delhi Admn. [2] examined the scope of judicial review of policy and held as under: “Courts, in exercise of their power of judicial review, do not ordinarily interfere with the policy decisions of the executive unless the policy can be faulted on grounds of mala ﬁde, unreasonableness, arbitrariness or unfairness etc. Indeed, arbitrariness, irrationality, perversity and mala ﬁde will render the policy unconstitutional. However, if the policy cannot be faulted on any of these grounds, the mere fact that it would hurt business interests of a party, does not justify invalidating the policy. In tax and economic regulation cases, there are good reasons for judicial restraint, if not judicial deference, to judgment of the executive. The courts are not expected to express their opinion as to whether at a particular point of time or in a particular situation any such policy should have been adopted or not. It is best left to the discretion of the State.” Learned counsel for the petitioner placed reliance on the decision which deals with a situation with regard to establishment of College by private agencies whereas in the case on hand it is the Government which has decided as a policy to establish the Government Junior College for Girls, Chandole, P.V.Palem Mandal. Therefore, the cited decision has no relevance to the facts and circumstances of this case. The object of establishment of junior college is explicit that it is a matter of welfare measure. Therefore, I do not see any merit in the point urged by the learned counsel for the petitioner. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. No costs. __________ 24-09-2008 rkk [1] 1991(II) ALT 240 [2] (2001) 3 SCC 635