Case: NEHRU GRAM BHARATI UNIVERSITY Vs. STATE OF U.P ETC. ETC

The first petition i.e. Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 57527 of 2010 was filed by the students who were admitted to two years Basic Teachers Certificate Course (hereinafter referred to as theCourse) in the Academic Session9 in Nehru Gram Bharati University (hereinafter referred to as the) for quashing of the order dated July 14, 2010 passed by the Director, State Council of Educational Research and Training (hereinafter referred to as the) and further for a direction upon the SCERT to recognise the BTC Course and the certificates granted by the Deemed University as legal and valid for selection and appointments as teachers in Parishadiya Vidyalayas/Junior Basic Schools.Another petition i.e. Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 493 of 2012 was filed by the students who were admitted by the same Deemed University for two years BTC Course in the Academic Session. The relief prayed for in this petition was more or less identical to the one in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 57527 of 2010.These writ petitions were dismissed by the single Judge of the High Court. Thereagainst,t appeals were filed. The Division Bench, under the impugned judgment dated March 31, 2017, has dismissed the Special Appeals holding that the Deemed University was not legally authorised to start the BTC Course for the Academic Session0 respectively in the absence of strict compliance of the letter of recognition dated August 16, 2005 as also in view of it having itself asked for recognition from the examining body, i.e. State/SCERT and recognition, in fact, was granted under the letter dated May 29, 2013 for the Academic Session. However, the Division Bench took into account the plight of the students caused due to negligence on the part of the Deemed University and, therefore, directed that eachby the Deemed University in addition to refund of the entire fee which was paid for the two years BTC Course in0 respectively. The Division Bench also directed that the money be paid through account payee cheque within two months from the date of the judgment.Facts in short relevant for deciding the present appeals are as follows: Rajiv Gandhi Post Graduate College, Kotwa, Jamunipur, Allahabad (hereinafter referred to as the) was established by the Society, duly registered under the provisions of the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in the name and style of Nehru Gram Bharati. It was a Post Graduate College affiliated to Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur (hereinafter referred to as the. The Post Graduate College made an application before the NCTE for grant of recognition for starting two years BTC Course under the provisions of NCTE Act. The North Regional Committee of NCTE vide its letter dated August 16, 2005 granted permission to the Post Graduate College under Section 15(3) of the NCTE Act for starting two years BTC Course subject to fulfillment of the terms and conditions as contained in the said letter. It is admitted on record that the Post Graduate College did not take requisite steps for complying with the terms and conditions as mentioned in the permission letter dated August 16, 2005 for years together.It so happened that the Central Government vide notification dated June 27, 2008 declared the Post Graduate College as a Deemed University with the change of name as Nehru Gram Bharati Deemed University. The College was deaffiliated from the Kanpur University. The Deemed University made a request to the North Regional Committee to change the name of the institution as mentioned in the permission letter dated August 16, 2005. Such change in name was granted by the North Regional Committee and communicated to the Deemed University vide its letter dated December 02, 2008. The Deemed University is stated to have published an advertisement inviting applications for admission to two years BTC Course for the Academic Session9 and similarly issued advertisement for the Academic SessionWhile the Deemed University started its process of admission to BTC Course, it simultaneously entered into correspondence with SCERT to grant recognition to said two years BTC Course offered by the Deemed University as the same was reflected through the letter dated February 10, 2010 forwarded by the Deemed University to SCERT with a request to approve the two years BTC Course and include the name of the Deemed University in the list of approved institutions so that the students with BTC certificate granted by the Deemed University had no difficulty in employment as Assistant Teachers in Junior Basic Schools. One of the students is also stated to have sent similar request to SCERT. He was informed by the Director, SCERT vide letter dated July 14, 2010 that his papers were being returned as they did not concern SCERT. This led to the filing of two writ petitions mentioned below:(a) Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 57527 of 2010 was filed by some of the candidates who were admitted to the two years BTC Course in the Academic Session9 in the Deemed University for quashing the order dated July 14, 2010 passed by the Director, SCERT and for a direction upon the SCERT to recognize the BTC Course and the certificates awarded by the Deemed University.(b) Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 493 of 2010 was filed by some of the candidates who had been granted admission by the Deemed Universityto the BTC Course in the next Academic Session0 and the relief claimed was for a direction upon the respondents to recognize the BTC Certificate awarded by the Deemed University so that the candidates can be considered eligible for appointment as Assistant Teachers in the Junior Basic Schools.It is the case of the appellants that once the University acquired the status of Deemed University, it became anunder Section 2(d) of the NCTE Act. Section 2(d) of the NCTE Act defines anto mean a University, agency or authority to which an authority is affiliated for conducting examination in teacher education qualification. The plea is that since it is a Deemed University and it conducts its own examination, there was no need to seek affiliation from any other agency. It is also pointed out that the State had taken a policy decision dated September 21, 2006 not to permit private institutions to run the BTC Course. The High Court of Judicature at Allahabad vide judgment dated July 31, 2009 upheld the singles decision dated May 08, 2007 striking down the States policy, and held that policy makers are under an obligation to formulate a policy that is in consonance with the law of the land and that there was no rational basis for the monopoly of training teachers created by the State Government.It may also be mentioned at this stage that on application by the Deemed University, the State Government vide Government order dated May 29, 2013, granted recognition to the BTC Course offered by the Deemed University from the Academic Session. This order of recognition was, however, modified vide Government order dated July 07, 2014 and it was provided that in place of Academic Session3 for the purposes of recognition of BTC Course, the same may be read as Academic Session1 onwards. The Government order dated July 07, 2014 has since been revoked under the Government order dated September 27, 2016. These Government orders dated May 29, 2013, July 07, 2014 and September 27, 2016 were not subject matter of challenge before the High Court.On behalf of the students, the basic contention raised before the Court was that once permission was granted under Section 15(3) of the NCTE Act in favour of the Post Graduate College which was subsequently converted into a Deemed University for starting of the two years BTC Course, the issue of seeking affiliation/recognition from the examining body became redundant after issuance of the notification dated June 27, 2008 whereby the Post Graduate College was declared as a Deemed University. It was contended that the Deemed University has a right to conduct its own examination, therefore, no approval is required from any authority for conduct the examinations in respect of two years BTC Course offered by the Deemed University subsequent tothe notification dated June 27, 2008 and in view of the law laid down by this Court in the case of State of Maharashtra v. Sant Dnyaneshwar Shikshan Shastra Mahavidyalaya & Ors.1 as also in view of the Division Bench judgment of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Special Appeal No. 1639 of 2007 (State of U.P. & Ors. v. Dau Dayal Mahila P.G. College & Ors.) decided on July 31, 2009 and in the case of State of U.P. & Ors. v. Furqan Ali & Ors.The claim set up by the students was opposed by the State of Uttar Pradesh through its Advocate General. With reference to the notification dated June 27, 2008 itself, it was submitted that the Deemed University could offer only such courses as were being offered immediately before the conferment of the status of the Deemed University or alike courses thereto. Deemed University could award degrees only for conventional/general degree programs leading to B.A./B.SC./B.Com or M.A./M.Sc. degrees covered under Section 22(3) of the Universities Grants Commission Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as the. On behalf of the State, it was explained that BTC Course is not a Degree Course nor a course recognized by the Universities Grants Commission (UGC). Therefore, merely because the Post Graduate College has been declared as a Deemed University, it cannot be presumed that it gets a right to act as an examining body forBTC Course, which is not provided for or taken care of under the UGC Act.Learned Single Judge vide its common judgment dated October 11, 2012 held that it was not possible for the Court to grant the relief as has been prayed for. Referring to the provisions of Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Guidelines framed by the UGC under the UGC Act and to the grant of status of Deemed University and clause 1 of the notification dated June 27, 2008, it was held that in view of Section 22, a University can only grant such degrees which have been specified by the UGC in the Official Gazette and that BTC is not one of the degrees mentioned therein.With reference to the provisions of NCTE Act and Regulations of 2007, it was held the College, even after grant of permission by the North Regional Committee of the NCTE, kept silent and did not take steps for starting two years BTC course for long duration and after confirmation of the status of the Deemed University, invited applications for the Academic Session. Deemed University cannot act as an examining body for the BTC Course and it had to obtain necessary permission from the examining body, namely, SCERT which was the examining body for the BTC course. It was further held that the candidates were not possessed of a BTC certificate from an institution having due authority of law to be the examining body for the course, therefore, such certificates did not make them eligible forappointment as Assistant Teacher in Junior High Schools.Aggrieved students filed Special Appeals before Division Bench of the High Court. As noted above, the High Court, vide its impugned judgment dated March 31, 2017, has dismissed the appeals and affirmed the judgment of the learned Single Judge and directed the Post Graduate College to refund the fees of the students and also to pay a sum of Rs.50,000/to each student. It has further directed that it is open for the concerned authority of University to take appropriate action against all those responsible for creating the situation and to recover the money lost due to payment to the students.

Reasoning:
From the aforesaid conditions, the argument of the learnedcounsel was that the Deemed University was specifically required to conform to the norms and standards prescribed by relevant statutory councils. It was also categorically mentioned that the Deemed University shall not offer/award any degrees that are not specified by the UGC. Moreover, it was to ensure that the nomenclature of the degrees etc. to be awarded by it are specified by the UGC under Section 22 of the UGC Act.The right to formulate the guidelines/standards with reference to courses run in the teacher education traininginstitutions, such as the procedure for admission of the students in such institutions, minimum qualifications for the admission, period of the Training Programme and the determination of the course, is done by the NCTE.After the recognition is obtained from NCTE, Section 14(6) of the NCTE Act stipulates that every examining body, on receipt of the order undern (4) thereof, shall grant affiliation to the institution where recognition has been granted. Further, the appendix 1 to 13 about the norms and standards of different Teacher Training Programmes has been mentioned in para 9 of the notification dated August 31, 2009 of NCTE.The argument on the basis of the aforesaid provision was that the admission had to be made not only on merits butas per the policy of the State Government/UT Administration.Here, according to learned counsel, the Deemed University faltered and, therefore, cannot seek any benefit. The counsel for the NCTE supported the aforesaid submissions put forth by the learned counsel for the State.From the aforesaid arguments of the learned counsel for the appellants as well as Deemed University, it becomes clear that the entire case primarily rests upon the submission that after it became Deemed University by virtue of notification dated June 27, 2008 issued by UGC under Section 3 of the UGC Act, Deemed University had right to hold examinations on its own as it became theBTC Course. However, as noticed above, notification dated June 27, 2008 granting status of Deemed University was subject to certain conditions. Section 22 of UGC Act gives right upon such Deemed University to confer degrees. However,n (3) thereof defines the meaning of degree under that provision which reads as under:(3) For the purposes of this section,means any such degree as may, with the previous approval of the Central Government, be specified in this behalf by the Commission by notification in the Official GazetteIt is clear that the right which was given to the Deemed University to confer degrees pertain to those degrees which are specified by the UGC in the Official Gazette. Admittedly, BTC is not one of the degrees mentioned therein. The reason is obvious. Insofar as BTC is concerned, it is a Teachers Training Course which was regulated entirely and exclusively by NCTE Act and the Regulations framed therein. First thing which follows, therefore, is that mere conferment of Deemed University status did not entitle this University to give BTC degrees to its students. Having regard to the same, the judgments cited by Mr. Dwivedi will have no application to the present case.The High Court has concluded that many of the aforesaid conditions were not fulfilled by the Deemed University which position could not be disputed even before us inasmuch ase was admitted in the supplementary affidavit filed before the High Court.Mr. Dwivedi has tried to argue that insofar as this University is concerned, Regulations, 2002 applied and not Regulations, 2009. He has submitted that Regulation 6 of Regulations, 2002 contemplated an NOC from the State Government at ae (x) of this regulation dispense with the requirement of NOC with regard to institution already recognised by NCTE for running a B.Ed. Course. This argument, according to us, is totally extraneous. The case of the respondents is not aboutt of conditions contained in Regulations, 2009 or Regulations, 2005. As noticed above, the gravamen of the charge is that the very conditions which were laid down by the NCTE in giving the recognition have not been fulfilled.Conscious of this fact, attempt was also made by Mr. Dwivedi to project that the findings of the High Court about thee with the conditions contained in the recognition letter issued by NCTE is an erroneous finding. We have already held above that merely because the college was conferred the status of Deemed University, these conditions did not cease to apply as BTC is not one of the degrees mentioned in the degrees specified by the UGC in the Official Gazette and that insofar as BTC is concerned, it would still be governed by the NCTE Act and regulations. It would be pertinent to mention here that the Deemed University has later on fulfilled the conditions and got recognition from NCTE in respect of BTC Course itself but it has happened only from the year 2012 onwards.It hardly needs to bed that insofar as issue oft of conditions is concerned, the High Court has rightlypointed out that it is more or less stands admitted by the Deemed University in its supplementary affidavit dated October 5, 2016.We also do not agree with the contention of Mr. Dwivedi that since the policy of fulfilling the conditions was set aside by the single Judge of the High Court vide judgment dated May 8, 2007 and this decision was affirmed by the Division Bench on July 31, 2009, it no more remained an obligation upon Deemed University to fulfill those conditions. On this very aspect, the High Court in the impugned judgment had rightly pointed out that in the aforesaid judgment dated July 31, 2009 rendered by the Division Bench of the High Court, a direction was issued requiring the State Government to formulate a policy and not to create any impediment of running a BTC Course by private institutions also, who fulfill the norms prescribed by NCTE.Thus, fulfillment of norms prescribed by NCTE was necessary. The impugned judgment also points out that the Division Bench in the aforesaid judgment dated July 31, 2009 has clarified that mere grant of permission by NCTE does not amount to automatic affiliation for running the BTC Course, until and unless the institution fulfills the norms which are prescribed by the NCTE. This Deemed University had also admitted in its counter affidavit filed before the High Court that the State Government, in terms of the Division Bench judgment dated July 31, 2009, took a policy decision to grant recognition/affiliations to private institutions also for impartingtraining of BTC Course under Government order dated January 15,As a corollary, it follows that there was no question of granting recognition to the private institutions upto January 15, 2010 for BTC Course in the State of Uttar Pradesh. As this was the legal position prevailing, coupled with the fact that the Deemed University approached the NCTE/SCERT for recognition of BTC Course and is given the said recognition only from the year 2012 onwards, the admission of students in BTC Course for the Academic Sessions i.e.0 was not permissible and such degrees cannot be treated as validly recognised. It may be harsh for the students who took admission in the Academic SessionsCourt cannot countenance the position where the unrecognised course is given imprimatur of validity only on the ground of equity. Because of this reason itself, the High Court has awarded compensation to the students. Therefore, we find it difficult to agree to the submissions advanced by Mr. Parekh on behalf of the students as well.