Kerala High Court
Mangalam College Of Engineering vs Apj Abdul Kalam Technological ... on 8 February, 2021
WA.No.1586 OF 2020 -1-
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR.S.MANIKUMAR
&
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SHAJI P.CHALY
MONDAY, THE 08TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2021 / 19TH MAGHA,1942
WA.No.1586 OF 2020
AGAINST THE ORDER DATED 19.11.2020 IN WP(C) 22659/2020(F) OF
HIGH COURT OF KERALA
APPELLANT/S:
MANGALAM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
MANGALAM HILLS, VETTIMUKAL
P.O.ETTUMANNOOR,KOTTAYAM-686 631, REPRESENTED BY
ITS SECRETARY, BIJU VARGHESE.
BY ADVS.
SRI.K.J.SAJI ISAAC
DR.ELIZABETH VARKEY
SRI.JITHIN SAJI ISAAC
SHRI.SHAMSUDEEN O.K.
RESPONDENT/S:
1 APJ ABDUL KALAM TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
CET CAMPUS, ENGINEERING COLLEGE POST OFFICE,
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 016, REPRESENTED BY ITS
REGISTRAR
2 THE VICE CHANCELLOR,
APJ ABDUL KALAM TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, CET
CAMPUS, ENGINEERING COLLEGE POST OFFICE,
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 016,
3 THE STATE OF KERALA,
REPRESENTED THE PRINCIPAL SECRETARY,
HIGHER EDUCATION (J) DEPARTMENT,
GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPAURAM POST
OFFICE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PIN-695 001.
WA.No.1586 OF 2020 -2-
4 THE COMMISSIONER FOR ENTRANCE EXAMINATION,
OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER FOR ENTRANCE
EXAMINATION, HOUSING BOARD BUILDINGS, SANTHI NAGAR,
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM POST OFFICE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-
695 001.
R1, R2 BY ADV. SRI.ELVIN PETER P.J.
R1, R2 BY ADV. SRI. K.R. GANESH
R3, R4 BY SRI. M. A. ASIF, SPECIAL G.P.
THIS WRIT APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 08.02.2021,
THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
WA.No.1586 OF 2020 -3-
JUDGMENT
Dated this the 8th day of February, 2021
S. Manikumar, C. J.
Instant writ appeal is filed, challenging an interim order in W. P.
(C) No. 22659 of 2020 dated 19.11.2020, by which, the writ court,
after considering the rival contentions made in the writ petition, as
well as taking note of an order of stay dated 13.10.2020, granted by
the Hon'ble Apex Court, declined to grant the interim prayer sought
for in the writ petition.
2. Interim order sought for in the writ petition is as follows:-
"For the reasons stated in the W. P. (C) and the
accompanying affidavit, it is humbly prayed that this Hon'ble
Court may be pleased to stay Exhibit P12 and to direct the 1 st and
2nd respondents to grant provisional affiliation to the petitioner
college for conducting B. Tech Artificial Intelligence and B. Tech
Chemical Engineering course for the academic year 2020-21
forthwith and to direct the 4th respondent to include the name of
the petitioner college also forthwith in the list of Engineering
Colleges, who are conducting B. Tech Chemical Engineering and
B. Tech Artificial Intelligence course, to enable the students to
submit options and to extend the time for second phase allotment
pending disposal of the Writ Petition."
3. While adverting to the grounds raised in the writ appeal, this
Court on 22.12.2020 ordered thus:-
"Pursuant to the order dated 9.12.2020, the Vice
Chancellor, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University has
passed an order dated 19.12.2020, which reads thus:
"KTU/PATOREGISTRAR/6074/2020 19.12.2020
ORDER
Mangalam College of Engineering, Kottayam filed WA
No. 1586/2020 before the Hon'ble High Court of
Kerala for the stay of Ext P12 order issued by the Vice
Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological
University and direct the respondents to grant
provisional affiliation to the College for conducting
two additional B. Tech courses 'Artificial Intelligence'
and 'Chemical Engineering' for the Academic Year
2020-21. Ext-P12 order was an order issued by the
University on the request submitted by the college for
granting affiliation to the above said additional courses.
The request was rejected by the University by Ext P12
based on the eligibility norms for affiliation laid down
by the Syndicate of the University in its resolution
dated 24.06.2020.
The Hon'ble HC by the Order dated 09.12.2020 in WA
1586/2020 filed by the Mangalam College of
Engineering, Kottayam has directed the University to
have a revisit at the provisions, in particular, clause
2.15404 of the Approval process handbook (APH)
2020-21 issued by the All India Council for Technical
Education (AICTE), the submissions advanced before
the Hon'ble Court in WA.1063/2020, and also take note
of ground (F) in the SLP preferred by the University
before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. In the light of the
Order of the Hon'ble High Court, the matter is re-
examined in its entirety taking note of the directions of
the Hon'ble High Court.
The Syndicate of the University as per its decision
dated 04.02.2020 laid down the following norms for
granting affiliation to additional courses and for
increase in intake in technical institutions:
"1. At least one of the existing programs should be
NBA accredited, in case of PG programmes, the
concerned UG Programme(s) should have NBA
accreditation.
2. The average annual intake in the institution for the
previous 3 years, should be more than 50% of the
sanctioned intake.
3. The proposed program should have AICTE
approval and NOC from the Government.
4. The proposed program should have industry
demand/ employment potential"
In accordance with the above norms laid down by the
Syndicate of the University, the University considered
the question of grant of affiliation to additional courses
to technical institutions which were granted approval
by the AICTE. In the light of the above norms, the
University granted affiliation to 21 technical
institutions for starting all the additional courses
applied, since all the said 21 technical institutions were
having NBA accreditation and satisfied the norms laid
down by the Syndicate of the University extracted
above.
Under Clause 2.15.4(b) of the APH, technical
institutions were granted exemption from having NBA
accreditation for grant of additional courses, if the
'approved intake' of the institution was exceeding the
'maximum intake allowed'. Considering the fact that
the AICTE has granted approval to 20 more institutions
for starting additional courses without NBA
accreditation, the Syndicate of the University was
convened on 24.06.2020, for considering the question
of granting affiliation to the above institutions for
starting additional courses and the norms to be laid
down for such technical institutions. The Syndicate of
the University in its 13th meeting held on 24.06.2020
considered the matter of granting affiliation for
technical institutions not having NBA accreditation
which were granted approval by AICTE. The Syndicate
of the University laid down the following norms and
reasonings in respect of granting affiliation to technical
institutions not having NBA Accreditation as follows:
"The syndicate examined the list of colleges which had
applied for new courses/programmes but with no NBA
accreditation. It is stated that AICTE has given
approval for colleges without NBA accreditation to
start new courses/programmes, if the total seats
requested for new courses falls within their total
approved intake. After a detailed discussion, the
syndicate resolved to adopt the following criteria for
granting affiliation to the new courses/programmes in
colleges without NBA accreditation as:
(i) The institution should have more than 50% pass for
the outgoing students at the time of application for
affiliation.
(ii) the institution should have most recent academic
audit overall score of GOOD
(iii) the institution should have 3 years average intake
of more than 50% sanctioned intake
Since these institutions are having no NBA
accreditation, the syndicate resolved to adopt the above
minimum criteria, in order to ensure the quality of
teaching-learning process of the institution, better
academic standards as reflected in the 'academic
auditing' exercise and perception about the institution.
Thus, the Syndicate of the University scaled down the
norms that was laid down in its meeting held on
4.2.2020 and the institutions were granted a concession
by exempting them from having NBA accreditation, in
the light of the exemption granted by the AICTE, but
keeping in view of maintaining the efficiency and
quality in technical education to be imparted by the
institutions.
The Hon'ble Supreme Court in an appeal filed by the
University against the common order dated 08.09.2020
of the Hon'ble High Court in WA No. 1073 of 2020,
has while considered the power of the University to lay
down norms for affiliation of additional courses has at
paragraphs 31 & 39 held as follows:
"In the case on hand, the Syndicate of the University
comprised of nine persons, including the Vice
Chancellor, the Principal Secretary to the Higher
Education Department of the Government of Kerala,
the Director of Technical Education and a few
academicians. All that the Syndicate wanted from them
Colleges seeking affiliation for additional courses, was
the fulfillment of just three simple criteria namely (i)
more than 50% pass for the outgoing students at the
time of application for affiliation; (ii) most recent audit
overall score of "Good"; and (iii) three years average
intake of more than 50% of the sanctioned intake"
Therefore, the norms prescribed by the Syndicate in its
meeting held on 24.06.2020 under the Chairmanship of
the Vice Chancellor could not have been taken
exception to. After all, the norms which the Colleges
have objected to, merely seek to ensure that at least
50% of the outgoing students had passed their
respective courses and that the Institution should have
the most recent academic audit overall score of
"Good", apart from having an actual intake of more
than 50% of the sanctioned intake in the preceding
three years on an average. We fail to understand how
colleges can demand affiliation for creating additional
courses, when the pass percentage of outgoing students
is less than 50% and the Colleges could even have an
average intake of more than 50% of the sanctioned
intake in the preceding three years"
The pass percentage of Mangalam College of
Engineering, Kottayam for the outgoing batch of 2015-
19 as per University records as on the date of
publication of results (17.07.2019) was just 23.49%
(SL No. 92: Annexure 1). The College submitted
application for affiliation of additional courses to the
University on 04.05.2020. After the publication of the
results of many supplementary, examinations of lower
semesters, the total pass percentage of the College
increased to 45.5% (SL. No. 78: Annexure 2) as per
University records on 11.06.2020. So, the percentage
pass for the outgoing students at the time of application
for affiliation of Mangalam College of Engineering
was only 45.5%, which is less than 50%. Hence the
College failed to satisfy the prescribed norms for
affiliation of the additional courses.
As per the resolution of the Syndicate meeting held on
15.12.2020, the question of granting affiliation of the
two additional courses approved by the AICTE to
Mangalam College Engineering, was examined in the
light of Clause 2.15.4(b) of the APH as directed by the
Hon'ble High Court, the norms laid down by the
Syndicate of the University in its meeting held on
24.06.2020, and the Judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme
Court in Civil Appeal No.4016/2020 dated 10.12.2020.
The Clause 2.15.4(b) of the APH pertains to the grant
of approval to technical institutions which do not have
NBA accreditation. In the light of the approval granted
by the AlCTE to those Institutions without NBA
accreditation, on 24.06.2020 the University scaled
down the norms laid down on 04.02.2020 specifying
that at least, one of the existing programmes conducted
in the college should have NBA accreditation. It is
noted that the Mangalam. College of Engineering,
which did not have NBA accreditation for any of the
programmes conducted in the college, failed to satisfy
even the scaled down norms laid on 24.06.2020.
The Hon'ble Supreme Court has upheld the conditions
laid down by the Syndicate of the University both on
04.02.2020 and 24.06.2020. The Hon'ble Supreme
Court held that "it is the Universities which are obliged
to issue degrees and whose reputation is inextricably
intertwined with the fate and performance of students
that may have to face the music and hence their role
cannot be belittled. It was further held that no 'State run
University can afford to have a laid back attitude today
when their own performance is measured by
international standards and therefore, Universities
certainly have the power to stipulate enhanced norms
and standards".
In the light of the above, the request of Mangalam
college-of Engineering for affiliation of two additional
B.Tech courses, namely 'Artificial Intelligence' and
'Chemical Engineering' is rejected.
The order of the Hon'ble High Court' is complied with
on the above terms.
Dr. RAJASREE M S
Vice Chancellor"
2. Being aggrieved, Mangalam College of Engineering,
appellant herein has filed an affidavit along with I.A.No.2 of
2020 praying to accept documents - Annexures A4 to A8.
Relevant portions of the affidavit filed in support of I.A.No.2 of
2020 dated 21.12.2020 reads thus:
2. The 1st respondent has in Annexure 2 in
Annexure A1 stated that the pass percentage of the
outgoing students of the appellant was only 45.5%. The
pass percentage as stated in Annexures 1 and 2 in
Annexure A1 are false and hence denied. The data
regarding pass percentage as stated in Anenxure 1 in
Annexure A1 is for the batch 2015-2019. The relevant
outgoing batch at the time of application for affiliation
is the batch of 2016-2020.
3. The 1st respondent has produced as Annexures
I and 2 in Annexure A1 the pass percentage of the
outgoing batch in 2015-2019. The students of 2015-
2019 cannot be considered as the outgoing batch at the
time of application for affiliation
4. The total number of students of the appellant
for the batch 2015-2019 including transfer from other
colleges is 332. True copy of course registration report
for academic year 2018-2019 of Mangalam College of
Engineering as available in the college portal in the 1st
respondent is produced herewith and marked as
Annexure A4. According to Annexure 1 in Annexure
A1, the number of registered students as on 17.07.2019
is also 332. Thus it is evident that 332 students of the
appellant were registered in the batch of 2015-2019.
The number of registered students as on 11.06.2020 as
stated in Annexure 2 in Annexure A1, is 378. The 1 st
respondent had by Notification No. KTU/SOEX-
II/5449/2019 dated 31.10.2019 permitted students of
closed colleges to attend exams from other exam
centers and many students had opted for the appellant
college. True copy of Notification No. KTU/SOEX-
II/5449/2019 dated 31.10.2019 is produced herewith
and marked as Annexure A5. The appellant has only
332 students and it is evident that those students who
had registered in excess of 332 are not that of the
appellant. Out of the 332 students of the appellant in
the batch 2015-2019, as on 11.06.2020, 186 students
passed and hence the pass percentage of the appellant
for the batch 2015-2019 is 56.02%. True copy of the
student report of the batch 2015-2019 for B.Tech
program of Mangalam College of Engineering as
available in the college portal in the 1st respondent is
produced herewith and marked as Annexure A6.
5. The total intake of the appellant college for
the batch 2016-2020 including transfer from other
colleges is 472. True copy of course registration report
for academic year 2019-2020 of Mangalam College of
Engineering as available in the college portal in the 1st
respondent is produced herewith and marked as
Annexure A7. The results of the outgoing 2016-2020
batch were announced in September 2020. Out of the
472 students of the appellant, 244 students passed and
hence the pass percentage of the appellant for the batch
2016-2020 is 51.69%. True copy of the student report
of the batch 2016-2020 for B.Tech program of
Mangalam College of Engineering as available in the
college portal in the 1st respondent is produced
herewith and marked as Annexure A8.
6. The total pass percentage of the outgoing
batch 2015-2019 of the students of the appellant is
56.02% and that for the 2016-2020 batch is 51.69%.
3. Apart from the above, inviting the attention of this court
to the pass percentage as on 17.7.2019 for the B.Tech 2015-2019
batch and pass percentage of 2015-2019 batch results (pass
percentage) as on 11.6.2020, Mr.K.J.Saji Isaac, learned counsel
for the appellant, submitted that though 378 students have been
shown as admitted in B.Tech 2015-2019 batch, only 332 students
were registered students (students admitted in the college) and
the remaining students were students registered for the purpose
of writing B.Tech examination in A.P.J.Abdul Kalam
Technological University. He further submitted that out of 332
students admitted to the said B.Tech 2015-2019 batch, 172
students have passed the examination and, therefore, the pass
percentage for the said batch works out to more than 50% of the
said course. According to the learned counsel for the appellant,
the conditions for granting permission for additional courses,
namely 'Artificial Intelligence and Chemical Engineering' are
satisfied and therefore, A.P.J.Abdul Kalam Technological
University ought to have granted affiliation for the abovesaid
additional courses and not to have insisted on NBA accreditation
on any of the programmes conducted in the college. Clarity on
the insistence of NBA accreditation was required, and hence
Mr.Elvin Peter, learned Standing Counsel for the University, was
requested to assist this court.
4. In the afternoon, when the matter is taken up, learned
counsel for the University categorically submitted that NBA
accreditation has been scaled down by the University in the
decision taken on 24.6.2020 and therefore, it is not insisted for
granting affiliation for additional courses namely, 'Artificial
Intelligence and Chemical Engineering' respectively. However,
on the additional documents (Annexures A4 to A8) filed by the
Mangalam College of Engineering, appellant herein, to prove
that the college has a pass percentage of more than 50 in B.Tech
2015-2019 course, we requested the learned standing counsel for
the University to ascertain the abovesaid facts and accordingly
revert.
5. Mr.K.R.Ganesh, learned standing counsel for the
University, submitted that the University requires some more
time to ascertain the number of students admitted for the B.Tech
2015-2019 batch and also the pass percentage. Interim order is
passed on 9.12.2020. University has taken nearly 10 days to
revert. It is the submission of Mr.Saji Isaac, learned counsel for
the appellant, that only on 19.12.2020 at 11 p.m., the order was
served and immediately the college has approached this court by
filing an interim application, I.A.No.2 of 2020, which is taken up
for hearing today.
6. Having regard to the limited verification required, i.e.,
number of students admitted and passed for the B.Tech 2015-
2019 batch, we direct the University to ascertain the pass
percentage, after verifying the abovesaid details. Students
numbering 172 stated to have passed out for B.Tech 2015-2019
batch might include students, who have been registered for the
purpose of examination. University is also directed to
scrupulously verify the details and thereafter issue appropriate
orders regarding affiliation for the additional courses 'Artificial
Intelligence and Chemical Engineering' respectively, within two
days from today. Learned standing counsel for the University
would communicate the orders of this court to APJ Abdul Kalam
Technological University, to act forthwith, without insisting for
copy of this order."
4. Pursuant to the above directions dated 22.12.2020, the
University has prepared a report dated 24.12.2020. But the said report
was not communicated to the appellant college within the time, as
ordered by this Court, and when a contempt of court case was filed,
report has been furnished to the learned counsel for the appellant.
Attributing willful and contemptuous violation of the directions stated
in the interim order dated 22.12.2020, Contempt Case (C) No. 88 of
2021 has been filed.
5. On this day, taking note of the counter affidavit filed by the
Registrar in-charge of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University,
we have disposed of the contempt petition.
6. A fresh decision has been taken on 24.12.2020, which gives
rise to a cause of action for challenge, if the appellant so desires.
7. As stated supra, we are called upon to decide only the
correctness of the interim order dated 19.11.2020 passed in W. P. (C)
No. 22659 of 2020. Matter cannot be treated as a writ petition, where
continuous directions, in the nature of mandamus, can be issued.
In the light of the above, nothing survives in the writ appeal for
further adjudication.
Accordingly, instant writ appeal is dismissed.
Sd/-
S.MANIKUMAR
CHIEF JUSTICE
Sd/-
SHAJI P.CHALY
JUDGE
Eb
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P. A. TO JUDGE
