- (1.) Leave granted. The appeal was heard, with the consent of the counsels for the parties.
(2.) The appellant (hereafter "the Society") is aggrieved by the final judgment of the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court, which declined its claim for admitting students in its undergraduate pharmacy (B. Pharma) course, up-to an intake of 180 students, with a further intake of 60 students, in the evening shift.
(3.) The undisputed facts of the case are that the society established the RC Patel Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research College (hereafter "the college") after securing permission and clearance of the All India Council for Technical Education ("AICTE", hereafter), the Pharmacy Council of India ("PCI" hereafter), Director of Technical Education, Govt of Maharashtra, and the North Maharashtra University, in 1992. Its initial student intake of 30 was increased, after permission from the authorities, in 1996 and further, to 60, annually, in 2001. In 2010, AICTE published regulations titled AICTE (Grant of Approvals for Technical Institutions) Regulations, 2010 (hereafter "AICTE 2010 Regulations") in terms of which student intake could be increased to 180 and, in addition, the concerned college could start a second shift of classes, for which the maximum intake could be 60 per year. In tune with this policy, the AICTE published the approval process handbook. On 23.08.2010, the appellant's college increased its annual intake capacity to 240 (180 in the regular shift and 60 in the second shift). This intake increase, apparently had the prior approval of the Govt. of Maharashtra (on 30.06.2010); the Director of Technical Education too approved the increase in intake, by an order dated 09.11.2011. This position continued for the later years, too.;