Holding

In view of three consistent inspection reports recommending permanent affiliation, the university must declare the results of the 23 fourth‑year students and consider granting permanent affiliation, but the court will not direct the university to grant affiliation.

Summary

The Himalaya Ayurvedic Mahavidyalaya admitted students to its BAMS programme without any university affiliation. After the admissions, the State Government and the Central Council of Indian Medicine inspected the college three times (1995, 1997, 1999) and each time recommended permanent affiliation. The university granted only a one‑year temporary affiliation (1 July 1996 to 30 June 1998) and initially refused to let the students sit for the professional examinations, prompting the students to file writ petitions. The Allahabad High Court, by interim orders, allowed the students to appear in the exams subject to a final decision, but later dismissed the petitions, holding that the university could not be compelled to grant affiliation or declare results. On appeal, the Supreme Court observed that the repeated inspection reports showed the college was fit for permanent affiliation and, in these special circumstances, directed the university to declare the results of the 23 fourth‑year students and to consider granting permanent affiliation after giving the college a hearing, while refusing to order the university to grant affiliation outright.

Issues considered

Whether students admitted to a college lacking university affiliation may be permitted to sit for university examinations and have their results declared.
Whether a court can compel a university to grant permanent affiliation to a college under Section 37(2) of the Uttar Pradesh State University Act.
Whether the university’s grant of temporary affiliation, in the absence of a statutory provision for such, invalidates the students’ right to appear for exams.
Whether interim orders allowing students to sit for exams pending final adjudication are maintainable.

Subjects

affiliationtemporary affiliationpermanent affiliationuniversitymedical collegeBAMSwrit petitioninterim orderSupreme CourtUttar Pradesh State University Actstudent rightsexamination results

Judgment

LAXMI SHARMA AND ORS. A
v.
V.C. CHHATRAPATI SAHUJI MAHARAJ UNIVERSITY AND ORS.

JUNE 23, 2006

[DR. AR. LAKSHMANAN AND ALT AMAS KABIR, JJ.] B

Uttar Pradesh State University Act; Section 37(2):
.,.\

Grant of temporary affiliation to a College by the University for certain
period for conducting a medical course of study-University not allowing the C
students to appear for the examination-Challenge to-High Court vide its
interim order allowing the students to sit in the examination subject to final
decision of the writ petition-Writ Petitions dismissed by the High Court-On
appeal, Held: Committees of experts constituted by the University and also by
the Medical Council conducted inspection three times and recommended grant D
of permanent affiliation to the College-Temporary affiliation gramed for
certain period only-High Court allowed the students in question to sit in the
professional examination to complete the course of study-In such
circumstances, University is directed to declare the results of the students who
had appeared in the Final Examination of the Course of Studj-University is
also directed to consider the issue of grant of permanent affiliation to the E
College in question after affording them opportunity of being heard-Directions
issued.

A medical College admitted the students without having obtained
affiliation from any recognized University. The Students were not allowed F
to appear in the professional examinations conducted by the respondent-
University. The College applied for affiliation under Section 37(2) of the
Uttar Pradesh State University Act. Only after such admissions, the State
Government and the Secretary, Medical Education, constituted a
Committee to inspect the college for the purpose of grant of affiliation to
it. The Committee recommended grant of affiliation to the College. The G
University granted temporary affiliation to it for a period of one year.
Since the rules do not provide for grant of temporary affiliation, the college
reiterated its prayer for grant of permanent affiliation. The Central
Council of Indian Medicine after conducting a further inspection of the

65 H
66 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2006] SUPP. 3 S.C:.R.

A college granted permission to the college for conducting the Course of •
Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicines and Surgery (BAMS) for the academic
year 1997-1998, subject to prior permission of the State Government and
affiliation to the University. However, since the students were not allowed
to appear for the professional examination held by the University, they
B filed writ petitions before the High Court for grant of permission to appear
in the examination. The High Court, by its interim order, allowed the
appellants to appear in the examination subject to the condition that their
results would be subject to the decision in the writ petition.

In the meantime, another inspection team constituted by the
C University submitted its report reiterating that the college fulfilled all the
requisite norms for grant of permanent affiliation in accordance with the
provisions of Section 37 (2) of the University Act. The College also filed a
writ petition before the High Court for a direction to grant permanent
affiliation to the institution.

D The University granted ex-post facto extension of temporary
affiliation of the college for certain period. In view of grant of such
temporary affiliation, the University allowed some of the students to sit
for the examinations. The University asked the college to get the
examination forms filled up by the students along with examination fee
so that results of the students could be declared, but the results have not
E been declared.

Disposing of the writ petition, the High Court observed that since
temporary affiliation had been granted to the college, the students
admitted during that period had been so admitted illegally in the absence
F of any affiliation and as such their cases could not be considered. The High
Court was of the view that notwithstanding any hardship that such
students may have to suffer, the Court could not direct the university to
allow them to sit for 1the examination or that their results should be
declared. Hence the present appeals filed by the aggrieved students and
also hy the College.
G
Allowing the appeals filed by the Students and disposing of the
appeals filed by the College, with certain directions, the Court

HELD: I.I. It is evident that from the year 1995 onwards, during
all the three ins[Jections conducted by the different authorities, the college
H was found suitable for :grant of permanent affiliation to the university and,
LAXMI SHARMA'" V.C. CHHATRAPATl SAHUJI MAHARAJ UNIVERSITY 67

in fact, affiliation was granted to the college from 1st July, 1996 till 30th A
June, 1998. (71-GJ

1.2. There was always an expectation in the mind of the college
authorities that permanent affiliation would be granted to the college,
which also encouraged stUdents to take admission in the hope of being
allowed to sit for the final examination .of the university once such B
permanent affiliation was granted to the college. The High Court also
appears to have been convinced to some extent in this regard on account

-. of the interim orders passed from time to time all?wing the students to
appear for the professional sessions of the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine
and Surgery (BAMS) examination, subject of course to the condition that C
the results in respect thereof would be subject to the decision in the writ
petition. (72-B-C]

2.1. This Court has no doubt indicated on various occasions that
mushrooming educational institutions, without having the requisite
infrastructure for grant of recognition, are harmful to the interest of the D
students and that the practice of allowing students of such institutions to
appear at the university examinations is to be deprecated. However, the
facts of this case are different from those set of cases persuading this Court
to take a different view. (72-H; 73-A)

2.2. Three inspections were conducted by three different bodies but E
they came to a common conrlusion that the college merited grant of
permanent affiliation. It is quite likely that such a state of affairs prompted
the High Court to pass the interim orders by which the students in question
were allowed to complete BAMS course and also to appear in the final ·
examination. In such special circumstances, Civil Appeals filed by the F
students are allowed as far as the 23 students of the IVth year of the course
as indicated in the inspection report conducted by the members of the
Central Council of Indian Medicine (Annexure P-2) are concerned, but
this judgment is not to be treated as a precedent in future cases. The
university is directed to declare the results of the students in question who
had completed the course and appeared for the final p_rofessional G
examinations. The appeal preferred by the college is disposed of with a
direction upon the university to consider the grant of permanent affiliation
to the college after giving the college authorities a reasonable opportunity ·
of being heard. (73-B-C; 74-F~GJ

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 5147-5148. H
68 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A of 2005.
From the Judgment and Order dated 13.5.2003 of the High Court of in
Allahabad in C.M.W.P.Nos. 29413 and 30840 of 1998

WITH
B
C.A. Nos. 5149-5150 of 2005.

U.U. Lalit, Pooja Dhar, Prashant Kumar and Vishwajit Singh (NP) for
the Appellant.

C Umesh Narain Shanna, Neeraj Tiwari, Anurag Singh, Shakil Ahmed
Syed for the respondent Nos. I & 2 CA Nos. 5147-5148/2005 and ror
Respondent Nos. 2& 3 in CA Nos. 5149-5150/2005.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

D ALTAMAS KABIR, J. The appellants in Civil Appeal Nos. 5147-
5148/2005 were admitted as students by the Himalaya Ayurvedic
Mahavidyalaya between 1992 to 1995 in its Medical College being the
appellant in Civil Appeal Nos. 5149-5150/2005. Inasmuch as, the aforesaid
college had not obtained affiliation from any recognized university the
appellants in the first set of appeals were not allowed to appear for
E examinations conducted by the university.

It may be indicated that soon after the aforesaid college was established
in 1993, the college applied for affiliation under Section 37(2) of the Uttar
Pradesh State University Act for the course of Ayurveda Acharya, Bachelor
of Ayurvedic Medicine/Surgery, (hereinafter referred to as 'the BAMS') to
F the Vice-Chancellor of Shri Sahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur, now known
as Chhatrapati Sahu Ji Maharaj University. According to the college, it
admitted three students during the academic year 1992-1993, 15 students for
the academic year 1993-1994. Lastly, the college admitted 23 students for
the academic year 1994-1995 without having obtained affiliation with the
G aforesaid university.
lt is only after such admissions had been completed that the State
Government and the Secretary, Medical Education, constituted a team to
inspect the aforesaid college to sub1:1it a report for the purpose of grant of
affiliation to the college. The said team members of the Central Council of
H Indian Medicine inspected the institution on 12th August, 1995 and from the
LAXMI SHARMA 1·. V.C. CHHATRAPATl SAHUJI MAHARAJ UNIVERSITY (ALTAMAS KABIR, J.] 69

inspection report which has been made part of the records, it appears that it A
was the opinion of the Committee that the college had the necessary
infrastructure for being granted affiliation to the university. On the basis of
the report of the expert panel, the Vice Chancellor of the university by his
order dated 20th January, 1997, granted temporary affiliation to the college
for one year with effect from 1st July, 1996. Since the rules do not provide B
for grant of temporary affiliation, the college reiterated its prayer for grant of
permanent affiliation and in connection therewith, the State Government wrote
a letter to the Central Council of Indian Medicine on 8th January, 1998
stating that if the Council gave its consent then the Government would have
no objection in recommending the case of the Himalaya Ayurvedic
Mahavidyalaya for grant of permanent affiliation. The Central Council of C
Indian Medicine after conducting a further inspection of the medical college
granted permission to the college for conducting the BAMS course for the
academic year 1997-1998, subject to prior permission of the State Government
and affiliation to the university.

However, as the appellants in the first set of appeals were not allowed D
to appear for the first professional examination by the university, they filed
two writ petitions, being nos. 29413/1998 and 3084011998, before the
Allahabad High Court for being granted permission to appear in the
' ,. examination. By its interim order dated 11th September, 1998, the Allahabad
High Court allowed the said appellants to appear in the first professional E
BAMS examination subject to the condition that their results would be subject
to the decision in the writ petition. Similarly, by its interim order dated 22nd
September, 1998 in Writ Petition 30840/1998, another set of appellants was
permitted to appear in the first professional session of the BAMS examination
on the same conditions. When a similar situation occurred in 1999, another
writ petition was filed being numbered as I 1502/1999 in which similar orders F
were passed.

On 8th August, I999, an inspection team constituted by the Vice-
Chancellor submitted its report reiterating that the college fulfilled all the
requisite norms for grant of permanent affiliation. Accordingly, the sa;d
inspection team recommended that the college be granted permanent affiliation G
in accordance with the provisions of Section 37 (2) of the University Act.

While the aforesaid matters were pending, the Himalaya Ayurvedic
Mahavidyalaya filed a writ petition, being No.12643/2000, on 10th April,
2000, before the Allahabad High Court for a direction upon the concerned H
70 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A authorities to grant permanent affiliation to the institution. In the said writ
petition, an interim direction was given to the State Government to decide ithe
matter of grant of affiliation to the college within two weeks. On 31st October,
2000, the Chancellor of the university granted ex-post facto extension of
temporary affiliation of the college to the university retrospectively from Ist
B July, 1997 to 30th June, 1998. In view of grant of such temporary affiliation,
the university allowed some of the students to sit for the examinations aind
their results were also declared. In the meanwhile, on I Ith September, 2002,
the Allahabad High Court by an order passed in W.P.No.12643/2000 allowed
the appellants in the first two set of appeals to appear in the 3rd final ....
professional examination with a further direction to declare the results of
C such students who had passed subject to the final decision of the writ petition.
It appears that a Special Lt~ave Petition, being No. 213 I2/2002, was filed by
the respondents herein against the said order ofthe High Court, but the same
was dismissed on 22nd November, 2002.

On 4th April, 2003, the Registrar of the University requested the college
D to fill the examination forms and to submit the examination fee of the students
so that their results could be declared. The said directions were duly complied
with, but it appears that till date the results of the students have not been
declared. . \

Various writ petitions filed by the college and the students appeared for
E final hearing before the High Court and by its order dated 13th May, 2003,
the High Court upon holding that there was no provision for grant of
provisional affiliation under the U.P. State Universities Act dismissed all the
writ petitions.

F While dismissing the said writ applications by a common order, the
Court observed that since temporary affiliation had been granted to the college
with effect from Ist July, 1996 those students who had been admitted before
the said date and after 30th June, 1998, h11d been so admitted illegally in the
absence of any affiliation and as such their cases could not be considered.
Even in respect of the students who had been admitted between Ist July,
G 1996 and 30th June 1998", when the college had been granted temporary
af~liation, the High Court was of the view that notwithstanding any hardship
that such students may have to suffer, the. Court could not direct that they
should be allowed to sit for the examination or that their results should be
declared. •

·H Aggrieved by the saidjudgme~t and order of the Allahabad High Court,
LAXMISHARMA r. V.C. CHHATRAPA Tl SAHUJI MAHARAJ UNIVERSITY [ALTAMAS KABIR,).) 7J

both the college as well as the students who had been affected, filed several A
Special Leave Petitions which were admitted on 18th August, 2005 and were,
thereafter, posted for hearing.

The views expressed by the Allahabad High Court is a reflection of the
views expressed by this Court in several matters where it had been called
upon to consider the plight of students who had been admitted to colleges B
which did not have the necessary infrastructure for grant of affiliation to a
recognized university. In several cases, this Court was compelled to reject the
prayers made on behalf of such students to allow them to appear in the
university examinations since they had already completed a certain number
of years of study in the different course conducted by such colleges. The C
Allahabad High Court merely followed what had been dealt with by this
Court in different matters and we too would have followed suit but for
certain special circumstances which have persuaded us to adopt a different
course of action in the present set of appeals.

Admittedly, the college had applied for affiliation soon after it was D
established in 1993 and pursuant to its application an inspection was conducted
by a team consisting of members constituted by the State Government and
the Secretary, Medical Education. Such inspection was conducted on 12th
August, 1995 and a recommendation was made that the college was suitable
for grant of affiliation with the university. On the basis of such inspection E
and recommendation, the college was granted temporary affiliation to the
Respondent No. I-university and pursuant to another inspection conducted by
the Central Council of Indian Medicine, the college was granted further
permission to conduct the Ayurveda Acharya Course for the session 1997-
1998.
F
The matter did not rest there and a third inspection was conducted by
an inspection team constituted by the Vice Chancellor of the university which
submitted its report on 8th August, 1999 recommending grant of permanent
affiliation to the college.
G
It is, therefore, evident that from 1995 onwards during all the three
inspectiOns conducted by the different authorities the college was found
suitable for grant of permanent affiliation to the university and, in fact,
affiliation was granted to the college from I st July, 1996 till 30th June, 1998.
• Students who had been admitted in the college during this perfod were allowed H
by the university to appear for the final examination through other institutions
72 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A since the temporary affiliation granted to the college had not been extended
after 30th June, 1998.

As the facts disclosed indicate, there was always an expectation in the
mind of the college authorities that permanent affiliation would be granted to
the college, which also encouraged students to take admission in the hope of
B being allowtd to sit for the final examination of the university once such
pennanent affiliation was granted to the college. The High Court also appears
to have been convinced to some extent in this regard on account of the
interim orders passed from time to time allowing the students to appear for
the !st, 2nd and 3rd professional sessions of the BAMS examination, subject
C of course to the condition that the results in respect thereof would be subject
to the decision in the writ petition. On 11th September, 2002, the last such
interim order was passed in W.P. No. 12643/2000 and the same reads as
follows:-

"Until further orders we direct that the students of petitioner No. I
D shall be pennitted to appear in B.A.M.S. examination, and the results
of those who have passed shall be declared, but this shall be subject
to final decisions of the writ petition."

It is another matter that consequently all the writ petitions were dismissed
E on account of the fact that pennanent affiliation had not been granted to the
college.

Appearing for the appellants in the first two appeals, Mr. Uday Lalit,
learned senior counsel, rnferred to the inspection report of the inspection held
on 12th August, 1995, by the inspection team of the Central Council of
F Indian Medicine wherein in paragraph 5 the year-wise list of students admitted
in the college has been spelt out. The said list indicates that at the time of
inspection there were 23 students in the IVth year and Mr. Lalit confined his
submissions to the said 23 students only. He made a fervent appeal that since
the said 23 students had been allowed by different interim orders to appear
G in the final examinations of each of the three sessions of BAMS course,
results of those who had passed should be declared in pursuance of the order
dated 11th September, 2002. He submitted that the university should be
directed to declare at lE:ast their results, particularly when a Special Leave
Petition filed by the respondents against the said order had been dismissed by
this Court on 22nd November, 2002.
H
This Court has no doubt indicated on various occasions that
LAXMISHARMA 1•. V.C.CHHATRAPATISAHUJIMAHARAJUNIVERSITY(ALTAMASKABIR,J.] 73

mushrooming educational institutions, without having the requisite· A
infrastructure for grant of recognition, are hannful to the interest of the
students and that the practice of allowing students of such institutions to
appear at the university examinations is to be deprecated. However, the facts
of this case, as we have pointed out earlier, are different from those set of
cases persuading us to take a different view. Three inspections conducted by B
three different bodies, including the team constituted by the Vice-Chancellor,
came to the common conclusion that the college merited grant of permanent
affiliation. It is quite likely that such a state of affairs prompted the High
Court to pass the different interim orders by which the students in question
were allowed to complete the BAMS course and to also appear in the final
examination. C
In such special circumstances, we allow Civil Appeal Nos. 5147-5I48/
2005 only as far as the 23 students of the IVth year indicated in paragraph
5 of the inspection report conducted by the members of the Central Council
of Indian Medicine on 12th August, 1995, being Annexure P-2 to the SLPs, D
are concerned, but our judgment is not to be treated as a precedent in future
cases. The university is directed to declare the results of the said 23 candidates
who completed the course and appeared for the final professional BAMS
examinations.

As far as the appeals preferred by the college against the common E
judgment and the order passed on the review application are concerned, we
agree with the view expressed by the High Court that it is not for the Court
to direct the concerned authorities to grant affiliation as that would amount
to trespassing on the jurisdiction of the university. We can only request the
university to consider the grant of such affiliation in view of the several
F
inspection reports and the recommendations made by the inspection teams
for grant of such recognition. The appeals preferred by the college are,
therefore, disposed of with a direction upon the university to consider the
grant of pennanent affiliation to the college after giving the college authorities
a reasonable opportunity of being heard.
G
The parties will bear their own costs.
~· S.K.S. C.A.Nos. 5147-5148 of 2005 allowed and
C.A. Nos. 5149-5150 of 2005 disposed of.