Adarsh Shiksha Mahavidyalaya & Ors vs Subhash Rahangdale & Ors

2. The importance of teachers and their training has been highlighted time and again by eminent educationists and leaders of society. The Courts have also laid considerable emphasis on the dire need of having qualified teachers in schools and colleges.

3. We have prefaced disposal of these appeals, which are directed against interlocutory order dated 17.12.2008 and final order dated 13.03.2009 passed by the Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Writ Petition No. 6146 of 2008 and connected matters by highlighting the need for well-equipped and trained teachers because in the last three decades private institutions engaged in conducting teacher training courses / programmes have indulged in brazen and bizarre exploitation of the aspirants for admission to teacher training courses and ranked commercialisation and the regulatory bodies constituted under the laws enacted by Parliament and State Legislatures have failed to stem the rot. The cases filed by these institutions, many of whom have not been granted recognition due to non- fulfilment of the conditions specified in the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993 (for short, `the 1993 Act') and the Regulations framed thereunder and by the students who have taken admission in such institutions with the hope that at the 8 8 end of the day they will be able to get favourable order by invoking sympathy of the Court, have choked the dockets of various High Courts and even this Court. The enormity of litigation in this field gives an impression that implementation of the provisions contained in the 1993 Act and the Regulations framed thereunder has been acutely deficient and the objects sought to be achieved by enacting the special legislation, namely, planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country, the regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards in the teacher education system have not been fulfilled so far.

5.2 The relevant portions of Sections 12, 14 to 16, 17, 17-A, 18, 20, 29 and 32 of the Act which have bearing on the decision of these appeals are reproduced below:

(4) * * * (5) Every institution, in respect of which recognition has been refused shall discontinue the course or training in teacher education from the end of the academic session next following the date of receipt of the order refusing recognition passed under clause (b) of sub-section (3). (6) Every examining body shall, on receipt of the order under sub-section (4)--

(4) Though normally the applicant institutions will ensure submission of applications complete in all respects, in order to cover the inadvertent omission of deficiencies in documents, the office of the Regional Committee shall point out the deficiencies within 30 days of receipt of the applications, which the applicants shall remove within 90 days. The date of receipt of the application after completion of deficiencies shall be treated as the date of receipt of the application complete in all respects within the meaning of Regulation 7(1).

(12) The institution, concerned, after appointing the requisite faculty/staff, shall put the information on its official website and also formally inform the Regional Committee concerned. The Regional Committee concerned shall then issue a formal unconditional recognition order.

3.2.2 There shall be relaxation of marks/reservation of seats for candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC communities and other categories as per the Rules of the Central/State Government/UT Administration concerned. 3.3 Admission Procedure Admission shall be made on merit on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examination and/or in the entrance examination or any other selection process as per the policy of the State Government/U.T. Administration and the University."

7. Processing of applications.--(1) The applicant institutions shall ensure submission of applications complete in all respects. However, in order to cover the inadvertent omissions or deficiencies in documents, the office of the Regional Committee shall point out the deficiencies within 30 days of receipt of the applications, which the applicants shall remove within 90 days. No application shall be processed if the processing fees of Rs. 40,000 is not submitted and such applications would be returned to the applicant institutions. (2) Simultaneously, on receipt of application, a written communication along with a copy of the application form submitted by the institution(s) shall be sent by the office of the Regional Committees to the State Government/UT administration concerned.

(5)-(8) * * * (9) The institution concerned shall be informed, through a 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 Government/Central Government/University/UGC or the affiliating body concerned, 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.

(10) All the applicant institutions shall launch their own website soon after the receipt of the letter from the Regional Committee under Regulation 7(9) covering, inter alia, the details of the institution, its location, name of the course applied for with intake, availability of physical 33 3 infrastructure (land, building, office, classrooms, and other facilities/amenities), instructional facilities (laboratory, library, etc.) and the particulars of their proposed teaching and non- teaching staff, etc. with photographs, for information of all concerned.

(11) The institution concerned, after appointing the requisite faculty/staff as per Regulation 7(9) above and fulfilling the conditions under Regulation 7(10) above shall formally inform the Regional Committee concerned along with the requisite affidavit and staff list. The Regional Committee concerned shall then issue a formal recognition order that shall be notified as per provision of the NCTE Act.

9.11 In Sheetla Shiksha Mahavidyalaya, Gwalior v. State of M.P. and others Writ Petition No. 6716 of 2008 the petitioner challenged the decision of the Board of Secondary Education not to grant affiliation. The Court noticed the affidavit filed on behalf of the NCTE and held that the recognition granted under the 1993 Act is prospective and no institution can admit students without having recognition from the competent authority. 9.12 Vikramaditya Mahavidhyalaya, Jabalpur filed Writ Petition No. 6113 of 2008 impleading the Union of India, the NCTE, Western Regional Committee of NCTE, the State of M.P. 55 5 and six universities of Madhya Pradesh as party respondents and prayed for issue of direction to the universities to withdraw the affiliation granted to non-deserving colleges and to restrain them from declaring the result of the students admitted in such colleges. It was further prayed that the universities be directed not to conduct the examination for the students of non-deserving colleges. That petition was disposed of by the Division Bench of the High Court vide order dated 31.7.2008. While disapproving the actions of the universities to grant affiliation by overlooking the fact that the institutions had not complied with the mandate of Regulation 7(9), (11) and (12), the Division Bench gave several directions, some of which are reproduced below:

(5) Ordinarily, the inspection of infrastructure, equipment, instructional facilities, etc., of an institution shall be conducted within 30 days of completion of processing of its application by the office of the Regional Committee with a view to assessing the level of preparedness of the institution to commence the course. Such inspection shall be in the chronological order of the date of receipt of the completed application in the office of the Regional Committee concerned. Among the applications received on the same day, alphabetical order shall be followed. (6) All the applicant institutions are expected to launch their own website simultaneously with the submission of their applications covering, inter alia, the details of the institutions, its location, name of the course applied for with intake, availability of physical infrastructure (land, building, office, classrooms, and other 25 2 facilities/amenities), instructional facilities (laboratories, library, etc.) and the particulars of their proposed teaching and non-teaching staff, etc. with photographs for information of all concerned.

(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.

(d) The order of recognition is always prospective.

(g) The order of recognition itself does not enable the institution to treat the recognition as a blanket order and violate other requirements that may be prescribed by the affiliating examining body which is in accord with the 1993 Act and Regulations.

(j) The universities shall forward the documents received by them to the NCTE for verification with regard to the status of recognition and their queries within a week hence by special messengers.

c) The Colleges which have been cleared and where we have stated that affiliation should not have been discontinued and where a fresh affiliation is necessary because all formalities were completed if any other formalities remain to be complied with as required by the University, the same shall be complied with within a period of 15 days from the date of intimation by the concerned University.

e) The NCTE shall make a college-wise report and behave like a statutory body with responsibility by enclosing the documents so that it will be properly appreciated.

(e) If an educational institution is aggrieved by the order of refusal of recognition by the Regional Committee it can submit a representation to the said Committee.

(f) If a decision is taken against the affected institution by the Committee, an appeal can be preferred under Section 18 of the Act to the Council, and said remedies are alternative and efficacious.

(r) The NCTE shall bifurcate the recognized colleges on the parameter of Jan Sevan Shiksa Samit (supra) which are fit to undertake 2007-08 examination on the basis of education imparted and other colleges which are to be recognized for the subsequent academic session.

(v) The Colleges in respect of which results have been published shall reap the benefit of such declaration."

(vii) The students who had been admitted prior to the decisions of the cases referred to in the impugned order cannot be denied the right to appear in the examination to be conducted by the competent body and the respondents are duty bound to declare the result of those who have already appeared in the examination.

(iii.) The respondents should be directed to declare the result of the students who were provisionally admitted and were allowed to take part in the examination pursuant to the interim orders passed by the High Court and the Supreme Court.

CONSIDERATION

77 7 "These are some of the cases where the Supreme Court and the High Courts broadened the scope of public interest litigation and also entertained petitions to ensure that in governance of the State, there is transparency and no extraneous considerations are taken into consideration except the public interest. These cases regarding probity in governance or corruption in public life dealt with by the courts can be placed in the third phase of public interest litigation."

(emphasis supplied)

20. We shall now examine whether the State Government has any say in the matter of grant of recognition to the private institutions desirous of conducting teacher training courses. In this context, it will be appropriate to notice Regulation 7(2) and (3) of the 2005 and 2007 Regulations, which lay down that a copy of the application form submitted by the institution(s) 82 8 shall be sent by the office of the Regional Committee to the State Government/Union Territory Administration concerned and the latter shall furnish its recommendations within 60 days from receipt of the copy of the application. If the State Government/Union Territory Administration does not make favourable recommendations, then it is required to provide detailed reasons/grounds with necessary statistics. While deciding the application made for recognition, the Regional Committee is duty bound to consider the recommendations of the State Government / UT Administration. The last portion of Regulation 7(3) contains a deeming provision and lays down that if no communication is received from the State Government/Union Territory Administration within 60 days, then it shall be presumed that the concerned State Government/Union Territory Administration has no recommendation to make. The rationale of these provisions is discernable from the guidelines issued by the NCTE vide letter dated 2.2.1996, the relevant portions of which are extracted below:

4. Apart from the usual courses for teacher preparation, institutions which propose to concern themselves with new emerging specialities (e.g. computer education, use of electronic media, guidance and counselling, etc.) should receive priority. Provisions for these should, however, be made only after ensuring that requisite manpower, equipment and infrastructure are available. These considerations will also be kept in view by the institution intending to provide for optional subjects to be chosen by students such as guidance and counselling, special education, etc.

7. Considering that certain areas (tribal, hilly regions, etc.) have found it difficult to attain qualified and trained teachers, it would be desirable to encourage establishment of training institutions in those areas.

8. Institutions should be allowed to come into existence only if the sponsors are able to ensure that they have adequate material and manpower resources in terms, for instance, of qualified teachers and other staff, adequate buildings and other infrastructure (laboratory, library, etc.), a reserve fund and operating funds to meet the day-to-day requirements of the institutions, including payment of salaries, provision of equipment, etc. Laboratories, teaching science methodologies and practicals should have adequate gas plants, proper fittings and regular supply of water, electricity, etc. They should also have adequate arrangements. Capabilities of the institution for fulfilling norms prepared by NCTE may be kept in view.

25. The above survey of precedents makes it clear that under Regulation 7(2) and (3), the State Government/Union Territory Administration is entitled to make recommendations on the application made for grant of recognition and the same are required to be considered by the concerned Regional Committee before taking a final decision on the application.

(emphasis supplied)

(emphasis supplied)

33. As a sequel to the above discussion, we hold that the impugned orders do not suffer from any legal infirmity warranting interference by this Court. We also reiterate that:

(b).

(vi) If the recognition is refused under Section 14(3)(b) after affording reasonable opportunity to the applicant to make a written representation, the concerned 101 1 institution is required to discontinue the course or training from the end of the academic session next following the date of receipt of the order.

(viii) The withdrawal of recognition becomes effective from the end of the academic session next following the date of communication of the order of withdrawal.

(xiv) If any institution admits any student in violation of the Norms and Standards laid down by the NCTE, then the Regional Committee shall initiate action for withdrawal of the recognition of such institution and pass appropriate order after complying with the rules of natural justice.

(xv) The students admitted by unrecognised institution and institutions which are not affiliated to any examining body are not entitled to appear in the examination conducted by the examining body or any other authorised agency.

(xvii) The NCTE shall issue direction for mandatory inspection of recognised institutions on periodical basis and all the Regional Committees are duty bound to take action in accordance with those directions. (xviii) In future, the High Courts shall not entertain prayer for interim relief by unrecognised institutions and the institutions which have not been granted affiliation by the examining body and/or the students admitted by such institutions for permission to appear in the examination or for declaration of the result of examination. This would also apply to the recognised institutions if they admit students otherwise than in accordance with the procedure contained in Appendix-1 of the Regulations.

34. So far as these appeals are concerned, we deem it proper to give the following directions:

(iii) The directions contained in the preceding clause shall not be used for dealing with the admissions made for the sessions 2005-2006, 2006-2007 or 2008-2009. The admissions made for those years shall be dealt with by the Western Regional Committee and the concerned examining body in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions.

(iv) Any institution aggrieved by the decision of the Western Regional Committee to reject the application for recognition or for permission to start a new course or training or withdrawal of recognition under Section 17 shall be free to avail remedy of appeal under Section 18 of the 1993 Act. If any such appeal is filed by the aggrieved party within 30 days from today, then the Appellate Authority shall entertain and decide the same on merits.

(v) If the Western Regional Committee has taken any action in furtherance of the directions given by the High Court, then the aggrieved person shall be entitled to challenge the same by availing remedy of appeal under Section 18 of the 1993 Act.

35. Subject to the above observations and directions, the appeals are dismissed. The parties are left to bear their own costs.