Kerala High Court Directs Mahatma Gandhi University To Ensure Statutory Clearances For Conducting B.Voc. Courses

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the Mahatma Gandhi University at Kottayam to ensure that it offers and conducts B.Voc. courses only on the strength of required statutory clearances, including those from the University Grants Commission and All India Council For Technical Education.

The direction was made while admitting a plea seeking detailed enquiry regarding the activities of 5 institutions in offering B.Voc. courses and courses affiliated with foreign universities to students in the State.

Justice Devan Ramachandran has further directed the University to file a report indicating the approval obtained by the party respondents, if any, before the next posting.

In the Petition moved through Advocate Santhosh Mathew, the petitioner challenged the offering B.Voc. Courses and courses in collaboration with Foreign Universities without obtaining all statutory and regulatory approvals required for conducting such courses. 

The Petitioner, a public limited company, had obtained permission from KINFRA for running Training and Education Centres on the land allocated to it and marketed these facilities and associated services in the Nirmal Infopark premises under the brand name 'Knowledge Park'. The 5th respondent is a tenant of the petitioner in the Nirmal Knowledge Park Campus. 

In the Petition, it was submitted that the petitioner's premises were being used by respondents 5,6,8 and 9 to illegally offer undergraduate and post-graduate courses conducted by the 11th respondent (International School of Creative Arts)  and 12th respondent (Indian School of Commerce) without obtaining due approval and thereby jeopardising the future of innocent children and the petitioner had previously approached the High Court challenging it.

During the pendency of the Writ Petition, it came to the knowledge of the petitioner that International Skills Development Corporation, Respondents 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 were also illegally offering B.Voc. Courses and courses in collaboration with Foreign Universities from the petitioner's premises without complying with the requirements for vocational courses under NSQF as laid down by UGC and AICTE.

The petitioner further submitted that ICSA and ISA (respondents 11 and 12) are not eligible to collaborate with foreign universities and offer courses to students in India as they do not fall under the definition of "Indian Higher Educational Institutions". 

Furthermore, it is also averred by the petitioner that the ISDC, respondents 11 and 12, are offering degrees to students without affiliation to either APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University or Mahatma Gandhi University, who have territorial jurisdiction over these respondents. Therefore, the petitioner contended that the ISDC, respondents 11 and 12 are wholly incompetent to offer the graduate and post-graduate programmes that are being offered by them. 

Thereby the prayer sought by the petitioner is to restrain the respondents 5,6,8,9, 11 and 12 from conducting such courses, advertising about these courses or conducting any enrollment of students either offline or online, including on their website, to ensure that innocent children and their parents are not misled to join these courses and also for the declaration that the respondents 11 and 12 are not entitled to conduct  B.Voc Courses or courses affiliated with foreign universities until obtaining the approval.  

The matter has been listed for 14 September 2022 for further consideration. 

Case Title: Nirmal Infopark(India) Ltd. v. State of Kerala & Ors. 

Click Here To Read/Download The Order