Can't reject NoC to new institute: Hyderabad High Court

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court made it clear that the AP (Telangana) Education Act did not provide any scope for rejecting a No Objection Certificate for new institutions and new courses solely on the ground of a policy decision taken merely on the basis of the number of seats falling vacant in a particular course. The court pointed out that “after all, the days when educational institutions were run on charitable lines, have long gone and hence the fact that the number of seats fall vacant can be a cause for the educational agency to worry and not a cause for the government to worry.”

A division bench comprising Justices V. Ramasubramanian and T. Amarnath Goud while directing the Telangana government and JNTU to grant NOC to Bojjam Narasimhulu Pharmacy College for Women of the city, noted that even according to the perspective plan prepared by the government, the enrolment of students for Pharm-D had registered a marginal increase over the years. The management of the college challenged a letter issued by the JNTU, Hyderabad, on August 19, 2017, refusing NOC on the ground that there was a government policy not to grant NOC for new institutions and new courses.

The JNTU had submitted that the state government after taking into consideration the local needs, decided that the number of institutions offering Pharm-D programme far exceeded the actual requirement, resulting in a number of seats going vacant. The JNTU contended that the validity of Section 20 of the AP  Education Act (which was also adapted in the State of Telangana) was upheld by the court in the case of government of AP versus  J.B. Educational Society and that therefore, the impugned communication was perfectly in order.

The State Government said it had prepared a 'Perspective Plan’ of technical education in the State and communicated it to AICTE. The bench observed that the grant of NOC was just like an entry pass required at the outer gate and an NOC by itself would not enable an institution to start a course, as it had to pass through several check posts thereafter.

While directing the university to grant the NOC, the bench said, “It will be open to the AICTE and Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) to examine whether the application of the petitioners for approval for starting a new course could be considered or not.”