South Asian University Enjoys Status Of International Organization, Not Amenable To Writ Jurisdiction: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has ruled that the South Asian University is not amenable to the writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India as it enjoys the status of an international organization having privileges and immunities conferred upon it under various enactments.

Justice Chandra Dhari Singh said that the varsity, being an organization deriving its powers from a 2007 inter-governmental agreement, is an international organization where the Government of India does not hold any control over its functioning, administration and finances despite it being situated in India.

“…this Court deems it necessary to hold that the respondent University has the privilege and the immunity from being subject to the writ jurisdiction conferred to this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India,” the court said.

Justice Singh dismissed a plea moved by various Associate Professors of the University who were issued show cause notices in December 2022 over their alleged involvement in the students protest against the grievances redressal mechanism of the varsity.

A Fact-Finding Committee was constituted to determine the role of the petitioners in the protest. The Committee's report concluded that the petitioners had prima facie acted in a manner which violated the varsity's Rules and Regulations and thus, they were suspended in June last year.

Dismissing the plea, the court observed that the varsity's character is that of an international institution and is not functionally, administratively or financially controlled by the Government of India and cannot be included under “other authority” as mentioned in Article 12 of the Constitution of India.

“…the SAU Act and the Regulations specifically provides for jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal for adjudication of the disputes between the parties, therefore, approaching this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution is not a remedy available to the petitioners,” the court said.

Justice Singh dismissed the plea as being non-maintainable, while advising the petitioners to approach the appropriate forum i.e. the Arbitral Tribunal, for adjudication of the dispute on merits.

Recently, in a rather contradictory order, a coordinate bench set aside two orders issued by the South Asian University expelling an LLM student over alleged acts of indiscipline, observing that the procedure adopted was sham and pre-determined.

The court had allowed the student's plea challenging the office orders passed by the varsity on February 17, 2023 and March 02, 2023, vide which she was expelled.

Counsel for Petitioners: Mr. Abhik Chimni, Mr. Saharsh Saxena, Mr. Anant Khajuria and Ms. Riya Pahuja, Advocates

Counsel for Respondent: Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mahapatra, Ms. Mrinmayee Sahu and Ms. Kritika Sharma, Advocates

Title: DR. SNEHASHISH BHATTACHARYA & ORS. v. SOUTH ASIAN UNIVERSITY

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 95

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