IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 14/09/2004
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE Mr.JUSTICE A.K.RAJAN
WRIT PETITION NO.26211 of 2004
All India Medical and Engineering
Colleges Association,
rep.,by its President
Dr.T.D.Naidu
5110, H.Block,I Street,
12th Main Road,
Anna Nagar, Chennai-40 ... Petitioner
-vs-
1.The State of Tamilnadu
rep.,by its Secretary,
Higher Education Department,
Fort St.George, Chennai
2.The Director of Technical Education,
Patel Road, Guindy,
Chennai-25
... Respondents
Writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of
India praying to issue writ of mandamus directing the respondents to forthwith
approve the list of the students, who have obtained eligible percentage of
marks in the qualifying examinations and who have been admitted for the
academic year 2004-2005 in the member colleges of the petitioner, who are the
unaided minority and non-minority Engineering colleges in the State of
Tamilnadu in the lapsed seats which remain vacant after the State agency has
admitted the candidates.
!For Petitioner ...Mr.K.Selvaraj
^For Respondents ...Mr.S.P.Prabhakaran-AGP.
:O R D E R
The petitioner prays for mandamus directing the respondents to
forthwith approve the list of the students, who have obtained eligible
percentage of marks in the qualifying examinations and who have been admitted
for the academic year 2004-2005 in the colleges of the petitioner association,
who are the unaided minority and non-minority Engineering colleges in the
State of Tamil Nadu for the lapsed seats which remain vacant after the State
agency has admitted the candidates through the Single Window System.
2. A Division Bench of this Court has passed Orders in
W.A.Nos.2 707, 2856, 2920 and 3053 of 2004. In that Orders, following the
decisions in T.M.A. PAI’s case [(2002) 8 SCC 481] and the decision of ISLAMIC
ACADEMY’s case [(2003) 6 SCC 697], it has been held that the individual
colleges whether it is unaided or aided, minority or non-minority colleges
can admit students based on the marks obtained in the qualifying examination
and the Common Entrance Test (CET) conducted either by the State Government or
by the Consortium, and that merit cannot be ignored. They cannot admit
students who did not write either of the Common Entrance Test, or a less
meritorious student in preference to a more meritorious student.
3. The prayer in the writ petition, in effect, is to admit
the students based only on the marks obtained in the qualifying examinations.
That implies that none of the students admitted by the College had appeared in
either of the Common Entrance Tests. Such students cannot be admitted into
the Engineering Colleges as per the decision of the Supreme Court in the two
cases cited above.
4. The plea of the petitioners herein is that there is no
guarantee that through the Single Window System, the State would fill up the
entire Government Quota in all the unaided Colleges in the State. A list of
vacancies in the Government Quota has also been filed in the Typed Set which
shows that at least in88 Colleges only less than 50 % of the Government Quota
was filled (in 50 Colleges not even 25% of the Government Quota has been filed
up). Even under those circumstances, as per the decisions of the Supreme
Court the individual colleges cannot admit any student who did not appear in
any of the CET. Admission to Engineering Colleges cannot be done only on the
basis of the marks obtained in the qualifying examinations.
5. Indeed, the situation is very serious. These 88 Colleges
faces closure in view of the restriction that the students who did not appear
for the CET cannot be admitted. The Single Window System (SWS) and the Common
Entrance Test were followed when the demand was more than the seats available.
The Supreme Court had made the observation as stated above under those
circumstances. Now, there is a different situation. More seats are available
than the demand. Though many students satisfy the AICTE guidelines (viz)
obtained more than 50% marks in the qualifying examinations, but they cannot
be admitted to the Engineering Colleges because of the observation made by the
Supreme Court. Nearly 25,000 seats in Engineering Colleges in Tamil Nadu is
likely to be vacant in the year 2004-05. A few thousands of students may
satisfy the conditions laid down by the AICTE for admission. Yet, those
students cannot be admitted since they did not write the CET which is also
made as a condition by the Supreme Court. Even after the admission through
Single Window System and the Management Quota and admission of all the
students who appeared in the Common Entrance Tests is completed, a large
number of seats may be available. Filling up of those seats based on the
marks obtained in the qualifying examination (Plus 2) may not be violative of
the AICTE rules/norms. But, this Court cannot permit such admissions so long
as the observations of the Supreme Court in TMA Pai’s case and Islamic
Academy’s case hold the field, since the decisions of the Supreme Court have
the effect of altering the rules of the AICTE for admission to Engineering
Colleges. Hence, the writ petition is dismissed. Consequently, no order is
necessary in W.P.M.P.No.31865 of 2004 and the same is closed.
Index : Yes
Internet: Yes
tsv/pb
To
1.The Secretary,
State of Tamilnadu
Higher Education Department,
Fort St.George, Chennai
2.The Director of Technical Education,
Patel Road, Guindy,
Chennai-25