- (1.) Heard Sri Anoop Trivedi learned Senior Advocate assisted by Sri Kunal Ravi Singh for the petitioner-appellant and Shri Pranjal Mehrotra appearing for All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE).
(2.) At this stage the prayer for interim relief in the special appeal is being pressed by the petitioner-appellant.
(3.) In the writ petition, the petitioner had challenged the order of AICTE dated 01.05.2019 by which the application for extension of approval of the courses run by Hindustan College of Science and Technology, Mathura(hereinafter referred to as "the Institution") has been rejected. The relevant portion of the impugned order is reproduced below: "1. Land documents in original are not presented and hence, not accepted. 2. Land shown available till 2015 is 29.415 acres in one piece as till that time these was no acceptability of land available in 2 pieces. But, the land available is actually in 2 pieces and land details are as per below: (a) Piece of land on which buildings are constructed: Land document No:997 Dated 09/04/97 land = 3.59/- aces Khassa No.355 Land document No:998 Dated 09/04/97 land = 3.59 aces Khassa No.356 Land document No:1291 Dated 09/04/97 land =3.59 aces Khassa No.357 Total Land 80975 aces (Apart from above land a lease deed is also presented (of 7.69 acres) but in the previous years private lease was not acceptable). a2) Piece of land available but there is no infrastructure for the Institute. Land document No.3436 dated 22/12/95 land 3.502 hectares Khasra No.2961, total land 20.5735 acres. Land document No.3436 dated 22/12/95 land 4.824 hectares khasra No.330, 331G, total land 20.5735 acres. The lands mentioned in land details a1) and a2) are two pieces of land and are not connected. They are approximately 500-700m away from each other. 3. In view of above points it can be said that the institute provided false or manipulated information with regards of land available with them. 4. The building plans are also not accepted since: a1) The institute only presented the site plan approved by the Zila Panchayat and all others building plans approved by Gram Panchayat. Even the site plan approved by Gram Panchayat for the buildings approved by Gram Panchayat is not presented. The site plan and building plans are shown approved inpendently are not acceptable. 5. Occupancy certificate is not accepted, since the building plans are not approved by Zila Panchayat but, the occupancy has been provided by Zila Panchayat. 6. Although apart from infrastructure presented in the report there are many empty and unused rooms shown are available but, in the absence of approved building plans the available rooms and their respective areas are not accepted. 7. The Institute did not provide any resolution for the land allocation to the available Institute on the same patch of land (Engg and MBA/MCA). Infrastructural deficiencies 1. Computer Center available is of 20173 sqm against the requirement of 300 sqm 2. 66 labs available against the requirement of 75 labs a. The available faculty is 131 against the requirement of 182 out of 131 available also 08 faculty member are not accepted. b. The instruments available in the labs are not sufficient. Recommendation of SAC was as under: "Heard the representatives of Hindustan College of Science and Technology and perused the papers produced. It is claimed that total 7.6963 acres land was allotted by the trust to the college. It is not disputed that these lands were leased out to the trust by Smt. Seema Gupta and Bhawna Gupta initially for a period of 33 yrs. and the said period was further extended to 2049. Those lease deeds were not registered. Hence, according to the provisions of transfer of property Act they are invalid deeds. Accordingly, neither the trust nor the college in question came into possession/occupation of the aforesaid land. In absence of valid deed relating to land, the trust/the college have no land. In such situation this committee need not consider the other deficiencies noted on the previous pages. In the above circumstance, this committee recommends "Withdrawal of Approval" of the college." 8. In view of the above, the compliance submitted by the institute was considered as per rules. In view of the record and the deficiency as above pointed out by the Standing Appellate Committee (SAC) Chaired by a Retired Justice in accordance with the Rule 13.7 of Appendix 13 of APIIB 2019-20 and in compliance with the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of MAA Vaishno Devi as reported in (2013) 2 SCC 617 at para 54 and Parshwanath case reported in (2013) 3 SCC 385 para 28 which explicitly states "compliance with the conditions for approved as well as Regulations and provisions of the AICTE Act is an unexceptional condition", which aim to ensure for attaining and maintaining of competitive, recognized global standard in Technical Education. It is undeniably essential to ensure strict adherence to the prescribed parameters for imparting of such educational courses including the requisite infrastructure, which is ultimately aimed at protecting the vital interests of our students. 9. Therefore, after examining the entire matter in the facts and circumstances mentioned herein above, and in terms of the provisions of the Approval Process and Hand Book, 2019-20. Council has decided to place Hindustan College of Science and Technology NH2, Agra Delhi Highway, Farah, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh ? 28122 under "Withdrawal of Approval" from the 2019-20. 10. It must be further noted that clause 6.9 of the Regulations 2018 prohibits grant of any conditional approval and clause 2.24 of Chapter II of the Approval Process Handbook 2019-20, read with clause 15 of Regulations 2018 mandate extension of approval for the academic year 2019-20 shall not be granted after 30th April 2019, in compliance with the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India dated 13.12.2012 (Civil No. 9048/2012). 11. Liability if any on this count, shall be the sole responsibility of the applicant Society/Trust and shall be settled as per the rules and regulations, as applicable. 12. This has the approval of the competent authority." ;