Abhyudya Sanstha vs Union Of India & Ors

letter, of the decision for grant of recognition or permission subject to appointment of qualified faculty members before the commencement of the academic session. The letter issued under this clause shall not be notified in the Gazette. The faculty shall be appointed on the recommendations of the Selection Committee duly constituted as per the policy of the State Govt/Central Govt/University/UGC or the concerned affiliating body, as the case may be. The applicant institution shall submit an affidavit in the prescribed form that the Selection Committee has been constituted as stated above. A separate staff list with the details would be submitted in the prescribed form. The Regional Committee would rely on the above affidavit and the staff list before processing the case for grant of formal recognition.

6. For facilitating grant of recognition for establishment of teacher training institutions in different parts of the country, four Regional Committees including the Western Regional Committee at Bhopal (for short, `WRC, Bhopal') were set up by the NCTE. In 2006-2007, WRC, Bhopal granted recognition/permission to large number of colleges/institutions to start B.Ed./D.Ed. courses in the four States falling within its jurisdiction, i.e. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa. On receipt of complaints that grave irregularities were committed by WRC, Bhopal in granting recognition/permission, the Central Government (Ministry of Human Resource Development) in exercise of the power vested in it under Section 29 of the Act issued order dated 21.8.2007 and directed WRC, Bhopal not to grant recognition to any institution/course till a comprehensive review was undertaken. On 23.8.2007, the Central Government constituted three member Committee headed by Ms. Anita Kaul, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development to conduct an in-depth inquiry into the working of WRC, Bhopal. In its report, the Committee highlighted the irregularities committed by WRC, Bhopal in granting recognition to various institutions in the States of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat without taking into consideration the views of the concerned State Governments. After considering the report of the Committee, the Central Government issued the following directions to the NCTE: 1

8. The appellant institutions submitted applications in 2006 and 2007 for grant of recognition for starting D.Ed course. The establishments of the appellants were inspected in March, May, June and July 2008. After considering the inspection reports, WRC, Bhopal issued letters to the appellants requiring them to give clarification on some issues. The matter was again considered in the meetings of WRC, Bhopal held in September/October 2008 in the light of the directives issued by the Central Government and the appellants were informed that their cases will not be processed. This was done in the back-drop of the recommendations made by the State Government that there was no requirement of trained teachers in the State. In the cases of Rajarshi Sahoo Chatrapati Education Society, Jagruti Shikshan Sanstha and Navyuvak Shikshan Mandal, letters of intent were issued, but final recognition was not granted under Section 14 of the Act read with Regulation 8(12) of 2007 Regulations. The appeal filed by Navyuvak Sikshan Mandal under Section 18 of the Act was dismissed by the appellate Authority.

(3) On receipt of the communication, the State Government/UT Administration concerned shall furnish its recommendations on the applications to the office of the Regional Committee concerned of the National Council for Teacher Education within 60 days from receipt. If the recommendation is negative, the State Government/UT Administration shall provide detailed reasons/grounds thereof with necessary statistics, which shall be taken into consideration by the Regional Committee concerned while deciding the application. If no communication is received from the State Government/UT Administration within the stipulated 60 days, it shall be presumed that the State Government/UT Administration concerned has no recommendation to make.

permanent structure on the land possessed by the institution in terms of Regulation 8(7), equipped with all necessary amenities and fulfilling all such requirements as prescribed in the norms and standards. The applicant institution shall produce the original completion certificate, approved building plan in proof of the completion of building and built up area and other documents to the Visiting Team for verification. No temporary structure/asbestos roofing shall be allowed.

12. In the case of Abhyudya Sanstha, some interesting developments took place during the pendency of the special leave petition. By an order dated 26.4.2009/3.5.2010, WRC, Bhopal refused recognition to the appellant. The Writ Petition filed by the institute was allowed by the Division Bench of the High Court and WRC, Bhopal was directed to reconsider the appellant's plea for recognition. After remand, WRC, Bhopal reconsidered the appellant's application and rejected the same vide order dated 3.5.2010. The appeal preferred against that order was dismissed by the competent authority. This time, the appellant did not approach the Bombay High Court. Instead, it filed Writ Petition No. 6784 of 2010 in the Delhi High Court. By an order dated 17.1.2011, the learned Single Judge allowed the writ petition and remitted the matter to WRC, Bhopal for processing the applications of the appellant afresh. These additional facts 2 clearly demonstrate that on the date of filing the special leave petition, appellant Abhyudya Sanstha did not have recognition in terms of Section 14 read with Regulation 7(11). The position of the other appellants is no better. Three of them got letters of intent but none was granted recognition. We have no doubt that if the appellants had not misrepresented the facts and made wrong statement on the issue of their recognition by WRC, Bhopal, this Court would not have entertained the special leave petition, what to say of passing interim orders.

18. In the result, the appeals are dismissed. Each of the appellants is saddled with costs of Rs.2 lacs, which shall be deposited with the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority within a period of three months. If the needful is not done, the Secretary, Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority shall be entitled to recover the amount of cost as arrears of land revenue.

20. WRC, Bhopal shall publish a list of the students, who were admitted by the appellants pursuant to the interim orders passed by this Court and forward the same to the Education Department of the Government of Maharashtra, which shall circulate the same to all government and aided institutions so that they may not employ the holders of such degrees.

21. The appellants are directed to pay Rs.1 lac to each of the students by way of compensation in lieu of the injury inflicted upon them by way of misrepresentation about their entitlement to admit the students to D.Ed. course.

May 12, 2011.