Madras High Court upholds order of the Puducherry government refusing NOC to educational trust.
Chennai: The Madras High Court upheld an order of the Puducherry government, refusing to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) to an educational trust which failed to comply with the mandatory requirement of possessing five acres of land to start an arts and science college in Puducherry.
Justice K.K. Sasidharan, who dismissed the petition filed by the K.S.P. Educational Trust, said, “The possession of land is a primary requirement which cannot be relaxed. In case the applicant fails to satisfy even the basic requirement for making an application for permission to establish a college, the state is justified in refusing permission. In case applications of this nature are entertained from trusts and societies which do not comply with even the basic statutory requirements, there will be a mushroom growth of such applications. NOCs in such cases will become saleable commodities.”
The trust applied for an NOC in January this year, with an unregistered document stating that a 6 acre plot had been taken on 99 years lease from the Thenkalai Sri Varadaraja Perumal Devasthanam.
The application was rejected in March on the ground that as per UGC norms, the applicant must have a valid sale deed or a registered lease deed for 5 acres. Though the trust challenged this, the judge said section 25 (1) of the Puducherry Hindu Religious Institutions Act prohibits a lease exceeding three years, unless government grants permission.
Next Story
