PETITIONER:
MANAGING COMMITTEE OF BHAGWAN BUDH PRIMARYTEACHERS TRAINING
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
STATE OF BIHAR AND ORS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT06/11/1989
BENCH:
KANIA, M.H.
BENCH:
KANIA, M.H.
KULDIP SINGH (J)
CITATION:
1989 SCR Supl. (2) 23 1990 SCC Supl. 722
JT 1989 Supl. 308 1989 SCALE (2)1096
ACT:
Educational Institutions: Education Act: Application for
recognition of educational institution--Necessity for early
disposal by Government-Emphasised.
HEADNOTE:
The petitioners in the special leave petition started,
without recognition, a teachers training college in Bihar,
and later applied for permission to allow its students to
appear at the examination on the ground that the question of
its recognition had not been decided by the Government. The
petitioners failed to get the desired relief from the High
Court.
Dismissing the special leave petition, this Court,
HELD: (1) A number of mushroom institutions have sprung
up in the State of Bihar without getting any recognition and
thereafter have tried to get the permission from courts that
its students be allowed to appear at the examination on
grounds of sympathy. [24G]
(2) It is not possible to grant any such permission as
prayed for because the granting of such permission would be
clearly violating the provisions of the Education Act. [25B]
S.L.P. No. 12014 of 1987 decided on November 25, 1987
A.P. Christians Medical Educational Society v. Government of
A.P. & Anr., [1986] 2 SCC 667, referred to.
(3) The application for recognition in this case was
made by the petitioners as early as 1986 and that applica-
tion has not still been disposed of. The same should be
disposed of within 4 weeks from today. [25F]
(4) The concerned department of the Government of Bihar,
should see to it that applications for recognition of educa-
tional institutions are decided promptly and where such an
application is without
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merit, the Government should promptly reject, the same and
take steps to see to it that the rejection is brought to the
attention of the students of the institution concerned so
that they may not waste further time and money by undergoing
training in that institution. [25C]
(5) The failure of the Government to take such action
would only reflect callous indifference to the interests of
the young students to whom the Government certainly owes
certain responsibilities. [25D]
(6) The State should consider taking such steps, Crimi-
nal or Civil, as open to it in law, to stop such institu-
tions and those who run them from misleading students and
deceiving them. [25E]
(7) The State Government of Bihar shall get published
advertisements in at least three newspapers in that State
with wide circulation warning students not to take admission
in any educational institution which has not got recognition
and making it clear that if they do so, they would be doing
so at their own risk. [25G]
JUDGMENT:
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Special Leave Petition
(Civil) No. 10326 of 1989.
From the Judgment and Order dated 1.8.1989 of the Patna
High Court in C.W.J.C. No. 5768 of 1989.
R.K. Jain, R. Sharma, R.P. Sharma and Ms. Sangeeta
Tripathi for the Petitioners.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
KANIA, J. This is one more case of an educational insti-
tution started in the State of Bihar without recognition
applying for permission to allow the students, whom it has
admitted and, from whom it has presumably recovered substan-
tial fees, to be allowed to appear at the ensuing examina-
tion on the ground that the question of its recognition has
not been decided by the Government. It appears from the
judgment of the High Court that a number of similar mushroom
institutions have sprung up in the State of Bihar without
prior recognition, have admitted students, received fees
from them and allowed them to undergo training for a sub-
stantial period of time without getting any recognition and
thereafter tried to get permission from the Court for their
students to be allowed to appear at the examination on
grounds of sympathy. This impression has been gathered from
a
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number of similar applications made to this Court in the
last few months.
It is not possible to grant any such permission as
prayed for because the granting of such permission would be
clearly violating the provisions of the Education Act (See
the judgments in S.L.P. No. 120 14 of 1987 decided on Novem-
ber 25, 1987 and the A.P. Christians Medical Educational
Society v. Government of A.P. & Anr., AIR 1986 SC 1490:
[1986] 2 SCC 667. What is however, unfortunate is that
applications made by various educational institutions to the
Government for recognition are not promptly disposed of. In
fact, we are of the view that the concerned department of
the Government of Bihar should see to it that applications
for recognition of educational institutions are decided
promptly and where such an application is without merit, the
Government should promptly reject the same and take steps to
see to it that the rejection is brought to the attention of
the students of the institution concerned so that they may
not waste further time and money by undergoing training in
that institution. The failure of the Government to take such
action would only reflect callous indifference to the inter-
ests of the young students to whom the Government certainly
owes certain responsibilities. We also feel that the State
Government should issue advertisement through newspapers and
other possible channels, if any, to ensure that students do
not get misled by such unrecognised institutions into wast-
ing their precious time and money in undergoing training
which will be of no avail to them. We find that there ap-
pears to be a large number of students in the State who are
misled by such institutions. In fact, the State should
consider taking such steps, criminal or civil, as open to it
in law to stop such institutions and those who run them from
misleading students and deceiving them.
We are informed that in the present case, the applica-
tion for recognition was made by the petitioners and as
early as 1986 that application has not still been disposed
of. We direct that, if this so, the application should be
disposed of within 4 weeks from today.
In these circumstances, we direct the State Government
of Bihar to get published advertisements in at least three
newspapers in that State with wide circulation warning
students not to take admission in any educational institu-
tion which has not got recognition and making it clear that
if they do so, they would be doing so at their own risk. The
advertisements to be issued within three weeks from the date
of receipt of this order by the department concerned. We
direct that the
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copies of this order be sent forthwith to the Chief Minister
of Bihar, the Minister in-charge of the Education Department
and the Secretary of that department.
Special leave petition is dismissed with these observa-
tions. In case the application of the petitioners for recog-
nition is granted, the Government will consider the granting
of appropriate relief to the students in respect of the
years for which the recognition is concerned.
R.S.S. Petition dismissed.
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