Kannur University VC Cannot Construe Himself To Be Armed With Unlimited Power: Kerala High Court, Quashes Sanction For Private College

The Kerala High Court recently set aside the Administrative Sanction issued by the Government to Kannur University in favour of TKC Education and Charitable Society (TKC) for starting a new Arts and Science College for the academic year 2022-23.The court said the Vice Chancellor of the University had acted beyond the scope of his powers while considering TKC's application, which admittedly was incomplete.Justice Devan Ramachandran said the VC has been statutorily vested with great powers when it requires immediate action, enabling him to exercise any power vested with the Syndicate or Academic Council of the University."It does not require to be stated specifically that the Vice Chancellor is expected to act judiciously and strictly circumscribed by the limits under Section 11 of the Kannur University Act, 1996 and that he cannot choose to do as he pleases, even when the Syndicate or the Academic Council is not in session," said the court.However, the court said whatever be the reasons that he may cite, the fact remains that he could have exercised any power under Section 11 of the Act in favour of TKC, only after being satisfied that their application was complete in all respects, complying with all the statutory requirements as are mandated and that any discrepancy therein had been rectified before the date mentioned in Statute 6 of Chapter V of the First Statutes."However, in the case at hand, the Vice Chancellor appears to have acted much in excess of his powers and dealt with an application which was, admittedly, incomplete and in error – which fact was unequivocally conceded to by "TKC" in their letter dated 19.05.2022," it said.The Court in this case was dealing with the question as to whether the VC had acted correctly in directing that the application of TKC was to be proceeded with to the stage of inspection, thus leading to the obtention of "Administrative Sanction" from the Government.The CaseTKC had made an application before the Kannur University for starting a new Arts and Science College for the academic year 2022-23. However, this application was found to be defective by the Registrar of the Kannur University, who issued a letter dated 5th February 2022, stating that the land that was offered did not belong to them but to six other persons. Clarifications were offered by TKC regarding certain aspects, which were considered by the Registrar along with the Land Acquisition Officer of the university, but the defects still remained. A letter dated 26th March 2022 was addressed to them pointing out the same and granting 15 days time for correcting the discrepancies. However, TKC was unable to make the requisite rectifications within the stipulated time. They approached the Registrar with a letter dated 19th May 2022 whereby they conceded that "at least 45 cents of land was not lying contiguous to the balance offered by them"; and therefore they proposed to substitute it with another one acre which was in the name of an individual, who was their member. They requested the Registrar to do the needful stating that they would register that property also within three months or earlier as per instructions given. Interestingly, the Registrar placed this letter of TKC before the VC on the same day, who made an endorsement in his own handwriting stating that it was urgent and may be placed before the Syndicate meeting on 27th May 2022, and that Dr. Ashokan and Mr. M.C. Raju was to conduct an inspection on 21st May 2022. Pursuant to this, the Inspection Team submitted a report before the Vice Chancellor recommending the grant of a provisional affiliation subject to a NOC to a new Arts and Science College to TKC with effect from 2022-23. The report was approved by the VC on 15th June 2022, and he directed the matter to be placed before the Syndicate. The Syndicate thereafter did consider the file, however, since the NOC from the Government had not been received by them, they endorsed the word 'noted' on the file. It was at this juncture that the Government issued the impugned 'Administrative Sanction' dated 26.07.2022, indicating therein that they were acting as per the letter of the Registrar dated 17.06.2022. At this stage, a writ petition was filed, pursuant to which an interim order was issued on 5th August 2022, directing that all further action based on the impugned "Administrative Sanction" was to be deferred. Meanwhile another writ petition was also filed by Association of the Managements of Self Financing Arts and Science Colleges wherein the Administrative Sanction of the Government was again challenged. Findings of the Court:The Court said as per Chapter V of the Kannur University First Statutes, 1998, it is normally the Syndicate of the University, which is to consider the applications seeking affiliation. It also noted that as per Statute 6, it ought to be done not later than April 30th, preceding the academic year in which the College/Course is proposed to be started. "The afore provisions...

Kannur University VC Cannot Construe Himself To Be Armed With Unlimited Power: Kerala High Court, Quashes Sanction For Private College

Navya Benny

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