Patna High Court Rejects Sherghati College's Plea For Retrospective Affiliation For 2020-21 Session

The Patna High Court has dismissed a petition filed by the management of Prof. Vijay Shankar Rai Mahila College, Sherghati, Gaya, for retrospective affiliation of the college from the academic year 2020-21. The court also declined to issue a directive for a special examination for the students of session 2019-20.

Justice Anil Kumar Sinha said the doctrine of legitimate expectation as argued by the petitioner is not applicable in the facts of the case as there was no representation on part of the State that the college can admit students pending proposal of affiliation or recognition.

"(The) further recognition/affiliation was not there for the session 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and of-course 2020-21 as such the plea of legitimate expectation of the petitioner cannot be accepted," said the court.

The court further said that the prime consideration in the doctrine of legitimate expectation is the reasonableness and fairness of the state action. It added that the proposal for recognition or affiliation was pending before the State Government as per the Bihar State Universities Act 1976 and the doctrine of legitimate expectation cannot be invoked since the State's decision is founded under the provision of law.

"Besides the equity cannot be claimed against statutory provision of law," said the court.

The court cited the case of Adarsh Shiksha Mahavidyalaya and others versus Subhash Rahangdale and others reported in (2012) 2 SCC 425, wherein the Supreme Court emphasized that institutions cannot admit students without obtaining recognition under the relevant act.

“The petitioner’s College ought not to have admitted the students for the session 2020-21 without any approval of the State Government as required under Section 21(2)(d) of the Act merely on the basis of recommendation made by the University to the State for affiliation / recognition,” said the bench.

The petitioner, Prof. Vijay Shankar Rai, Secretary of Mahila College, had challenged the memo issued by the Principal Secretary-cum-Additional Chief Secretary of the Education Department, Government of Bihar, which refused affiliation to the college. However, during the pendency of the writ application, the State Government granted affiliation to the college, starting from the academic year 2021-22.

The petitioner then prayed for retrospective affiliation for the session 2020-21. Additionally, an interim application was filed, seeking a special examination for B.A./B.Sc./B.Com Part-I (Hons) for the session 2019-20, specifically for the students of the college.

The petitioner argued that the college had previously been granted affiliation for several academic sessions, but affiliation was not granted or was pending approval after the session 2015-2016.

The petitioner had previously filed a writ application before the court to seek acceptance of examination forms and fees, but the court stated that the college did not have the required affiliation with the university as per the Bihar State Universities Act, 1976. Nonetheless, the court had directed the Principal Secretary of the Higher Education Department, Government of Bihar, Patna, to make a final decision regarding the grant of affiliation to the petitioner's college, Accordingly, the proposal for affiliation was rejected, stating that the college did not fulfil the necessary criteria.

Thereafter, the petitioner submitted a representation before the Chancellor of the University, upon which the university conducted an inspection, which recommended permanent affiliation. Subsequently, the State Government granted approval for affiliation to the college from the academic session 2021-22.

The counsel for the petitioner argued that the proposal for affiliation had been pending for a long time. It was only after a fresh inspection conducted by a Three Member Committee of the university that affiliation was finally granted for the session 2021-22, he said.

The counsel further contended that a second inspection was conducted in July 2020, and admissions for the session 2020-21 had already begun in May-June.

Consequently, the college admitted 2000 students for the session 2020-21, having a legitimate expectation that the college would be granted affiliation for that session, the court was told. It was submitted by the counsel that as the affiliation for the session 2021-22 was granted based on the second inspection, the college had already admitted students for the session 2020-21, and thus argued that in the interest of girl students the College should be granted retrospective affiliation at least for the session 2020-21.

Case Title: Vijay Shankar Rai vs. The State of Bihar and Ors Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.9940 of 2019

Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s: Mr. Sarvadeo Singh, Adv., Mr.Shailendra Kumar Singh, Adv.

For the Respondent/s: Mr.Prabhakar Jha ( Gp27 )

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