Mrs. Monica Bhatia vs Govt. Of National Territory And ...

*             IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

+                    Writ Petition (Civil) No.10434/2009

%                        Date of Decision: 27.07.2009

Mrs. Monica Bhatia                                         .... Petitioner
                        Through Mr.R.L.Bhatia, Advocate.

                                      Versus

Govt. of National Territory and another                 .... Respondents
                       Through Ms.Zubeda Begum, Advocate for the
                                 respondent No.1.
                                 Mr.Sanjiv Goel, Advocate for the
                                 respondent No.2.

CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR

1.    Whether reporters of Local papers may be               YES
      allowed to see the judgment?
2.    To be referred to the reporter or not?                 NO
3.    Whether the judgment should be reported in             NO
      the Digest?


ANIL KUMAR, J.

* The petitioner impugns the action of the respondent in not admitting her to the course of B.Ed. Programme 2009-2010.

The petitioner contended that she has a post-graduate degree with a minimum of 50% mark in aggregate from a recognized University and has studied one of the subjects in terms of the clause 13 (2) of the eligibility conditions as her subjects in the post-graduate degree were Basic Accounting, Labour Economics, Managerial Economics and Principle of Economics whereas eligibility conditions contemplate studies in the papers of Accountancy and Economics. Writ Petition (Civil) No.10434/2009 Page 1 of 4

The petitioner has also contended that after she applied for admission to the course of B.Ed., admit card was issued for the Common Entrance Test (CET-2009) and petitioner appeared in the entrance examination and she was ranked at 415 in the merit list of 2600 students. The petitioner went to counseling centre on 14th July, 2009 for finalizing her admission; however, she was not admitted.

Learned counsel for the petitioner has relied on the notification of University Grants Commission dated 1st December, 1958 stipulating the degrees for the purpose of Section 22 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. Item 11 of the said notification stipulate a Degree of Masters of Business Administration (MBA).

Section 22 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 is as under:-

"22.(1) The right of conferring or granting degrees shall be exercised only by a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provisional Act or a State Act or an institution deemed to be a University under Section 3 or an institution specially empowered by an Act of Parliament to confer or grant degrees.

(2) Save as provided in sub-section (1), no person or authority shall confer, or grant, or hold himself or itself out as entitled to confer or grant, any degree.

(3) For the purposes of this section, "degree"

means any such degree as may, with the previous approval of the Central Government, be specified in this behalf by the Commission by notification in the official Gazette."

Perusal of the post-graduate certificate of the petitioner obtained from Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning, Pune, India, reveals that it is not a degree in Business Administration but a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Administration. A post graduate diploma in business administration has not been notified by the University Grants Commission and it is not a degree under Section 22(3) of the said Act.

The eligibility condition for admission to the B.Ed. course in terms of Clause 13(2), is as under:-

"13 (2) For post Graduates: Candidates having done post-graduation degree with a minimum of 50% marks in aggregate from a recognized university and having studied any one of the following:

                           (i)       English
                           (ii)      Hindi
                           (iii)     Sanskrit
                           (iv)      Physics
                           (v)       Chemistry
                           (vi)      Mathematics
                           (vii)     Biology
                           (viii)    Botany
                           (ix)      Zoology
                           (x)       Biotechnology
                           (xi)      Life Science
                           (xii)     Chemistry
                           (xiii)    Accountancy
                           (xiv)     Business Studies
                           (xv)      History
                           (xvi)     Political Science
                           (xvii)    Economics
                           (xviii)   Geography
                           (xix)     Psychology"

      The    eligibility conditions contemplate a post-graduate degree

with a minimum of 50% marks.              Admittedly, the petitioner does not

have a post-graduate degree but a post-graduate diploma which does Writ Petition (Civil) No.10434/2009 Page 3 of 4 not fulfill the eligibility condition. The petitioner in the facts and circumstances is not eligible for admission to B.Ed. Course and is not entitled for the reliefs claimed by her.

The writ petition is, therefore, dismissed.

July 27, 2009                                             ANIL KUMAR, J.
'Dev'




Writ Petition (Civil) No.10434/2009                            Page 4 of 4