'Lack Of Jurisdiction': J&K&L High HC Dismisses Jaipur-Based University's Plea Seeking Reimbursement Under PM Special Scholarship Scheme

The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has dismissed a Jaipur-based University's plea for reimbursement of the expenses incurred by it with regard to tuition fee, hostel fee and cost of books after admitting the students from Jammu & Kashmir under the Prime Minister's Special Scholarship Scheme for J&K Students.

Justice M A Chowdhary said merely because the students are from J&K, will not give any cause of action to file the writ petition before the high court.

The bench further said that the court can exercise the power to issue directions, orders or writs for the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights conferred by Part III of the Constitution or for any other purpose if the cause of action, wholly or in part, had arisen within the territories in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction, notwithstanding that the seat of the Government or authority or the residence of the person against whom the direction, order or writ is issued, is not within the said territories.

"It is well settled that the expression "cause of action" means that bundle of facts which the petitioner must prove, if traversed, to entitle him to a judgment in his favour. The cause of action has no relation whatever to the defense which may be set up by the defendant, nor does it depend upon the character of the relief prayed for by the plaintiff. It refers entirely to the ground set forth in the plaint as the cause of action upon which the plaintiff asks the Court to arrive at a conclusion in his favour," it added.

The bench said the university's cause of action, under the given circumstances, cannot be said to have wholly or partly accrued within the jurisdiction of the court in J&K.

"Therefore, without going into the merits of the case, this petition is not worth to be entertained, in the light of the aforementioned settled legal position and 'no cause of action' having arisen within the territorial jurisdiction of this Court. As a result this Writ Petition filed by the petitioner-University is held to be non-maintainable before this Court for lack of jurisdiction," said the court.

The observations were made by Justice Chowdhary while hearing a plea filed by Suresh Gyan Vihar University for directions to Government of India and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi for sanction of the amount of scholarship comprising tuition fee, hostel fee, mess charges and other incidentals including the consequential renewals till the completion of the course in favour of 271 leftover J&K students for the Session 2014-15 as per the scale prescribed in guidelines of PMSSS and as per the approved fee structure of the petitioner-University.

Contesting the plea, All India Council for Technical Education - the implementing Agency under the Scheme, raised a preliminary objection with regard to the locus of the University to file the writ petition, submitting that the scholarship is granted to the students and not to the Colleges or Universities.

It further alleged that the litigation was sponsored by the university and its conduct was highly objectionable keeping in view that it admitted the students of its own without proper permission of the respondent or concerned authority and after completion of their courses the University filed the writ petition to obtain the wrongful gain.

The Centre in its reply submitted that the students from J&K were required to apply under the scheme on the AICTE portal and only those eligible students, who were within the merit list and had been allotted colleges through centralized counselling or had taken admission on their own in college or University either approved under Section 12 B of UGC Act or recognized by AICTE or by other regulatory authority and their application forwarded by the Government of J&K, were to be considered for award of scholarship under the scheme.

However, in case of the 271 leftover students, they were not been found eligible for scholarship under the Special Scholarship Scheme for J&K due to "not in merit", courses not approved by AICTE or either for other reasons and hence became ineligible to be considered and granted scholarship under the Scheme, the Centre said. 

Case Title : Suresh Gyan Vihar University Vs Union of India & Ors.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (JKL) 271

Coram : Justice MA Chowdhary

Counsel For Petitioner: Mr. Aarohi Bhalla, Adv.

Counsel For Respondent: Mr. T.M.Shamsi, DSGI, Mr. Bilal A. Malla, Mr. Faheem Shah, GA vice Mr. Asif Maqbool, Dy.AG.

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