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"Court cannot direct varsity to grant affiliation"

Staff Reporter

`College should have obtained no-objection certificate from Government' College should have obtained NOC from Government

CHENNAI: "No college can claim affiliation as a matter of right. It is only for the university in its discretion to grant affiliation or not. A court cannot arrogate to itself the powers to grant affiliation, nor can it direct the university to grant affiliation. An act which the statutory authority has to do cannot be done by this court, and this court must exercise restraint in this connection."

The First Bench of the Madras High Court made these observations while ruling that the University of Madras was justified in demanding the State Government's no-objection certificate for processing the affiliation application of a college offering B.Ed course.

Setting aside a single judge order directing the university to consider the affiliation application of Our Lady College of Education without insisting on prior permission from the Government, the Bench declined to permit the already admitted students to write the examination.

"Such sympathetic considerations are wholly misplaced and do not serve anyone. High educational standards must be maintained even if it results in suffering to some students."

After the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) approved the course, the petitioner-college applied for affiliation with the Madras University in November 2004. Owing to a delay in processing the plea, it moved the High Court and obtained an order directing the university to inspect the premises and report within two weeks.

The university then asked the college to obtain an NOC from the Government to enable it to take further action in the matter of granting affiliation.

It also directed the college not to conduct classes based on the provisional affiliation.

When the university fiat was challenged the single judge allowed the plea, resulting in the present appeal by the university.

Upholding the views of the university, the First Bench said: "Until and unless the university grants affiliation to the petitioner-institution, it had no right at all to admit students which would lead to conferring a degree of the Madras University... Any college admitting students even before the university accords its affiliation is really committing fraud on those students and is cheating them, because the students can be left in the lurch if ultimately affiliation is not granted."

The Judges expressed concern over the "farcical degrees" granted by various universities, especially those based in Jharkhand, necessitating interference from the Supreme Court.

"If our country is to progress, high standards of education must be maintained. This requires academic rigour. Education is a sacred matter, and strict discipline and high standards must be maintained."

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