G.S.SANDHAWALIA J. - (1.) THIS order shall dispose of three writ petitions bearing CWP Nos.12135, 12299 & 12484 of 2014, involving common questions of law and facts. However, to dictate order, facts have been taken from CWP No.12135 of 2014 titled Adesh University Vs. State of Punjab & others.
(2.) THE petitioner -University is aggrieved against the order dated 16.06.2014 (Annexure P14), passed by the State, whereby the counselling for the purpose of admission to the MBBS & BDS courses for the session 2013 -14, in the University, has been stopped. A further prayer has been made for a writ in the nature of prohibition directing the respondents not to interfere in the smooth functioning of the University since it has been functioning under the Adesh University Act, 2012 (for brevity, the 'University Act'). The pleaded case of the petitioner is that it is a University established under the University Act and is constituted under the Private University Policy dated 14.06.2010. Prior to the constitution of the University, the Adesh University of Medical Sciences & Research, Bhatinda and Adesh University of Dental Sciences, Bhatinda, which were being run by the Adesh Foundation, had applied for constitution of the University along with five other institutes, running the medical courses, after obtaining no objection certificate from the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (its acronym, 'BFUHS'), to which, they were earlier affiliated. The proposal to shift affiliation had been approved by the Medical Council of India, New Delhi, Dental Council of India as well as the University Grants Commission. An executive order dated 07.12.2002 (Annexure P13) had been passed whereby the powers of the University, which was a totally autonomous body, were sought to be curtailed. The said order was challenged by way of filing CWP No.9215 of 2013, which was allowed on 01.05.2014 and is reported as Adesh University and another Vs. State of Punjab & others 2014 (2) RSJ 557 (Annexure P4). The University had complied with all the terms and conditions imposed on it and submitted for providing the first statute as well as the first ordinance but the respondents had not raised any objection whatsoever till today. The petitioner -University was entitled to hold separate competitive examinations for the session 2014 -15 but to instill confidence and for the purpose of transparency, the All India Pre -Medical Entrance Test (its acronym, 'AIPMT'), conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education for admission to all Government colleges for the session 2014 -15, had been adopted. The prospectus giving every minor details for adopting the fair, transparent and non -exploitive procedure for selection, had been issued (Annexure P7). Admission notice had also been put in the website on 27.05.2014 and 01.06.2014.
(3.) A news item was published in the Hindustan Times on 11.06.2014, stating that the petitioner -University was charging Rs.40 lacs each from MBBS students, which was 20 -fold the tuition fee, fixed by the State and the news item was with ulterior motive. Clarification was issued in the same paper by the petitioner -University as to clarify all the wrong facts given in the news item. Another news item was published on 15.06.2014 and the petitioner -University sent a legal notice to the Editor -in -Chief of the said paper. Since counselling was slated for17.06.2014 and 18.06.2014, then the impugned order was received at 9.30 a.m. and the University had stopped the counselling on the ground that admission had to be done by the Centralized Counselling by the BFUHS, as per notification No.5/9/2009 -3SS3/1472 dated 07.03.2014 (Annexure P15). An explanation was also asked as to how the fees was being charged at the said rate, as reported.;