Communication Is Not Notification: Allahabad HC Sets Aside Single Bench Order Directing Allahabad University To Compensate Applicant Who Was Not Admitted After Eligibility Changed
|The Allahabad High Court set aside an order against Allahabad University which was directed to compensate an applicant who was not admitted to the Course after eligibility for the same was changed.
The Court said that the communication by the Registrar to the Director of Admissions by itself cannot be said to be a notification of the resolution passed by the Academic Council that was relied on to claim that eligibility criteria changed after the admission process had commenced.
The Court was hearing a Special Appeal against the judgement where although the Single Judge set aside the impugned action of the University, on finding that the relief as sought cannot be granted to the petitioner, ordered compensation of Rs. 50,000/. Another appeal was filed by the aggrieved Petitioner.
The bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Vikas Budhwar observed, “the communication by the Registrar to the Director Admissions by itself cannot be said to be a notification of the resolution passed by the Academic Council, the same essentially is an intimation requiring Director Admissions to act as per the approval given by the Academic Council and, therefore, the entire basis of the plea raised regarding changing the eligibility criteria after the admission process had commenced, though the learned Single Judge clearly came to the conclusion that the admission process had started on 01.07.2022, cannot be sustained.”
Advocate Kunal Ravi Singh appeared for the University and Advocate Dhananjai Rai appeared for the Petitioner.
Brief Facts-
Petitioner filed a Writ Petition challenging the rejection of his candidature for the M.A. in Women Studies course for the 2022-23 academic session at a University. Despite holding LL.B. and LL.M. degrees and scoring the highest marks in his OBC category on the entrance test, his application was denied based on revised admission criteria requiring candidates for a second postgraduate course to have achieved 9 grade points on a 10-point scale in their previous postgraduate course. He contested the decision after an earlier Court directive to reconsider pending applications was not fulfilled.
The Court noted that the resolution passed by the Admission Committee providing for change in eligibility criteria was approved by the Academic Council. As per the Court, once the Academic Council in its meeting approved the minutes of the meeting of the Admission Committee, the change suggested by the Admission Committee came into force.
The Court said that the impugned judgment cannot be sustained.
Consequently, the Court allowed the Special Appeal filed by the University and set aside the impugned judgement. The Court also dismissed the Writ Petition filed by the petitioner.
Cause Title: University Of Allahabad v. Ajay Singh (Neurral Citation: 2024:AHC:105613-DB)
Appearance:
Adv. Kunal Ravi Singh, Adv. Dhananjai Rai, Adv. Jitendra Kumar Singh and Adv. Diptiman Singh