IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BANGALORE

W.P. No. 00/2016

BETWEEN:

Regional College of Management n                                     Petitioner

AND:

The Registrar, Bangalore University and another               Respondents

   STATEMENT OF OBJECTIONS ON BEHALF OF

             RESPONDENT No 1

1. Petitioner has filed the above petition seeking a writ of certiorari to quash the endorsement bearing No.ACA-3:REN:2016-17 and further direct this respondent University to grant affiliation to the petitioner institution for MBA programme for the academic year 2016-17. It is submitted that the Writ Petition needs to be rejected as the same  is not tenable  either in law or on facts.

2. It is submitted that Respondent No.1 University is recognized by the University Grants commission, New Delhi, and degrees are being awarded for various courses by this respondent as per the guidelines and directions of the University Grants commission, New Delhi. It is stated that, the 2^nd respondent All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi (AICTE) does not seek No Objection certificate (NOC) or prior approval of the university while granting recognition to MBA/MCA courses since the applications are not routed through the university.

3. It is submitted that, however for grant of autonomous status by the university grants, commission, New Delhi  the, applications of the colleges are to be routed through the concerned affiliated universities along with the necessary recommendations. That, further, while submitting application for B.Ed and other education programmes   by the colleges they, should mandatorily obtain and submit a No objection certificate from the university along with the said application.

4. It is submitted that, the University vide its notification dated 13/08/2015 invited applications for various types of affiliations including renewal of Affiliation to existing courses, starting of new courses, new colleges etc. for the year 2016-17. That, the said notification clearly mentions about the college having continuous 5 years affiliation and NAAC `B` grade rating in order to apply for  affiliation to a PG course including MBA. Copy of the notification dated 13/08/2015  is herewith produced and marked as Annexure R-1

5. It is submitted that, the petitioner college represented by its President vide its letter dated 6/2/2106 requested the 1^st respondent University to permit them to apply for affiliation to MBA Programme and accordingly this University permitted the petitioner college to apply but, however this respondent University vide its Letter dated 8/2/2016  made it very clear that, the granting of affiliation will be considered subject to the fulfillment of all the perquisites/requirements as per the notification. Copy of the Letter of the petitioner and the University are herewith produced and marked as Annexure R-2 and R-3 respectively.

6. It is submitted that, petitioner college has thereafter made the application for affiliation after paying the applicable fee of Rs.3,00,000/- and late fee of Rs.5,000/- both on 8/3/2016 but, however without fulfilling the requirements  as required for seeking affiliation to BMA programme as required under the notification dated 13/08/2015 and as informed in letter dated 8/2/2016.

7. It is submitted that, since, many colleges had not met with the NAAC `B` accreditation requirement the, said colleges including the petitioner requested this respondent university to permit them to apply for the PG course without meeting the said requirement of having minimum NAAC `B` grade. The Syndicate taking note of the difficulties constituted a Sub Committee to look into the said aspect of revising  the guidelines/requirements. The, said Sub Committee recommended to relax the requirement of  obtaining NAAC `B` grade accreditation but,  continuation of 5 years permanent affiliation for  seeking affiliation to PG courses; recommendations of the Sub committee  were accepted and approved by the Syndicate at its  127^th meeting held on 24/03/2016. The university has thereafter issued notification dated 20/04/2016 notifying the modified guidelines as approved by the syndicate. Copy of the proceedings of the Sub Committee, Copy of the Syndicate Resolution and the notification are herewith produced as Anenxure R-4, R-5 and R-6 respectively.  The, said modified guidelines are applicable to all the colleges affiliated to this respondent University  and all the colleges including the petitioner are bound by the notification at Annexure R-6.

8. It is submitted that, the act of this university in wanting the petitioner college to comply with the notification at Annexure R-6 is in compliance with regulation 7 of the UGC (Affiliation of colleges by universities) regulations 2009; this university is bound by the said regulations. That, all the colleges in the state affiliated to this respondent University are bound with the guidelines approved by the Syndicate and in force. The action of this respondent is also in conformity with section 62 of the Karnataka State universities Act

9. The insistence of continuous 5 years affiliation applies only to the colleges intending to start post graduate courses at the inception/beginning  stage and not to the college/s wanting to establish/start with the under graduate courses. As, such the averment at paragraph 4 of the petition that, no college could be started if the impugned endorsement is to be upheld is misleading and deliberate made to prejudice the mind of this Hon’ble court.

10. That, this respondent university cannot be sought to be treated as a Rubber Stamp  in granting/continuing the affiliation to various courses catered by the colleges affiliated to this University. The very fact of petitioner making application before this respondent implies of petitioner being bound by the notifications/Guidelines  issued by this respondent; hence, the stand of the petitioner that this respondent has no role/locus  in the whole process is contrary to its own action. Th judgements referred have no application to the facts  of the present petition  since in the present case on hand there is a specific notification mandating the compliance of certain pre requisites in order to apply/seek for affiliation and the same is pursuant to a Syndicate resolution/approval. 

11. It is submitted that, the petitioner has chosen to challenge only the endorsement dated 17/05/2016 (Annexure G to the WP) and has not challenged the Syndicate resolution at Annexure R-5 and the notification at Annexure R-6 and as, such no relief as prayed in the petition can be granted to the petitioner. 

12. WHEREFORE it is prayed that this  Hon’ble court be pleased to not find fault with the endorsement dated 17/05/2016 produced at Anenxure G to the petition and consequently dismiss the petition as being bereft of any merits  in the interest of justice and equity.

Date:19/07/2016                                      Advocate for Respondent No                                                                 

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BANGALORE

W.P. No. 00/2016

BETWEEN:

Regional College of Management n                                     Petitioner

Vs.

The Registrar, Bangalore University and another        Respondents

AFFIDAVIT

I, aged  years , Occ: Registrar, Evaluation,  Bangalore University , Jnanabharathi,  Bangalore do hereby solemnly affirm and state on oath as follows:

1. I state that I am authorised to swear to this affidavit. Hence I am swearing to this affidavit.

2. I state that the contents of para 1 to of the accompanying statement of objections are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

3. I further state that the Annexure R-1 and R-6 are copies of the originals.

Bangalore

Date  

Identified by me,

Advocate