JUDGEMENT
V.K.JAIN,J. -
(1.)THE issue involved in this writ petition is as to whether the students who took admission in the M. Tech Course at Guru Gobind Singh
Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) on the basis of Graduate Aptitude
Test in Engineering (GATE) are entitled to scholarship which the
respondent no.1 is disbursing to such students. The petitioners before this
Court are the students of M.Tech Course in GGSIPU, they having taken
admission on the basis of an All India Competitive Examinations called
GATE. The respondent no.2-All India Council for Technical Education
(AICTE) has formulated a policy for granting scholarships to the students
taking admission to M.Tech Course through GATE. According to
AICTE, its policy is to grant such scholarships only to the students taking
admission to the technical institutions approved by it. The grievance of
the petitioners is that despite they being entitled to the aforesaid
scholarship, AICTE has not released the said scholarship to the university
for disbursal to them. The petitioners are, therefore, seeking a direction to
respondent no.1-GGSIPU to disburse the scholarships to them.
(2.)A perusal of the counter affidavit filed by respondent no.1- GGSIPU would show that the said university has been applying for grant
of GATE scholarship to GGSIPU since the year 2005-2006, such
scholarships have been released and disbursed to the students upto the
year 2009-2010 and utilization certificate in this regard was also
submitted to AICTE. The procedure adopted prior to 2010-2011 was that
hard copies of all the documents including the Letter of Approval issued
by AICTE along with all annexures such as seat allocation, indemnity
bonds, pre-receipts and utilization certificates were sent to the
Headquarters of AICTE at Delhi and its Regional Office at Chandigarh,
for processing and releasing the scholarships. However, academic year
2010-2011 onwards, AICTE introduced online applications for applying for grant of GATE Scholarship, but the university, on account of some
technical glitches, could not apply within time stipulated in this regard
and, therefore, it applied to AICTE by submitting hard copies of the
necessary documents as per the practice it was following in the previous
years. The proposal for grant of scholarship for the academic year 2010-
2011, was submitted to AICTE vide letter dated 4.5.2011. Vide its communication dated 25.4.2011, AICTE acknowledging receipt of the
proposal dated 4.4.2011 sought (i) Letter of Approval of AICTE for the
session 2010-11, (ii) Annexure-I (details for seats allocation) and
annexure-II and (iii) Indemnity bond and Pre-receipt. This was followed
by the letter dated 11.10.2011 requesting the university to expedite the
matter. Vide its communication dated 20.12.2011, the university referring
to the said letter dated 11.10.2011 submitted a compliance report desired
by AICTE, attaching the necessary documents. However, regarding the
letter of approval for the session 2010-2011, it was stated that a letter had
already been written by the university to the Regional Officer, AICTE,
Chandigarh. A copy of the said letter was annexed to the communication
dated 20.12.2011. However, vide its communication dated 26.3.2011
AICTE informed the university that it had not submitted copy of approval
of AICTE, which it had sought vide letter dated 11.10.2011. According to
the university, its officers had a meeting with the Regional Officer of
AICTE at Chandigarh on 21.12.2012 and in that meeting AICTE took a
plea that the university did not have online approval letter which could be
downloaded from AICTE Portal only in the year 2010. It is further stated
by the university that it had sent a list of various approved institutions
duly signed by the Member Secretary of AICTE to respondent no.1 which
clearly indicated the strength of M.Tech Course approved for the year
2010-2011 and even the database of AICTE showed approval for the said academic year in respect of GGSIPU. According to the university, since
they did not receive that approval letter for the academic year 2010-2011,
it was not possible for them to submit any pre-receipt or utilization
certificate to AICTE as the pre-receipt can be issued only when the grant
if approved by AICTE. Thus the university has entirely blamed AICTE
for not releasing the scholarship to the petitioners and other students who
took admission in M.Tech Course.
In its counter affidavit, the respondent no.2-AICTE has stated that it has formulated a policy to provide GATE Scholarship to the students
admitted in AICTE approved technical institutions and the university had
failed to submit (i) Letter of Approval of AICTE for the session 2010-11,
(ii) Annexure-I (details for seats allocation) and annexure-II and (iii)
Indemnity bond and Pre-receipt. Thus, the stand taken by AICTE is that
since the university failed to submit the requisite documents, the
scholarship for the year 2010-2011 could not be approved by it.
(3.)IT is not in dispute that AICTE has been granting such scholarships to the students admitted to M. Tech Course upto the year 2009-2010, on
the basis of their score in the GATE Examination. The only reason given
by AICTE for not releasing the scholarships for the year 2010-2011 is the
failure of the university to submit three documents i.e. (i) Letter of
Approval of AICTE for the session 2010-11, (ii) Annexure-I (details for
seats allocation) and annexure-II and (iii) Indemnity bond and Pre-
receipt. Admittedly, prior the academic year 2010-2011, AICTE has been
accepting from the university, hard copies of the application and other
documents for grant of scholarship to the M.Tech students. The
requirement of online submissions of such proposals was introduced for
the first time in the academic year 2010-2011. There is no dispute that for
one reason or the other, the respondent no.1-GGSIPU could not apply
online for grant of scholarship to its M.Tech students for the academic
year 2010-2011 and the proposal in this regard was submitted to AICTE
only on 4.4.2011. In my view, even if there was a delay on the part of the
university in submitting the proposal for grant of financial assistance, the
students cannot be made to suffer for the lapse on the part of the
university. The students discharged their obligations in this regard by
submitting the applications with the requisite documents to the university,
and thereafter it was for the university to submit their application to
AICTE for processing and disbursal of scholarship amount. It would be
appropriate to note here that the proposal dated 4.4.2011 submitted by the
university for grant of scholarship to its students for the academic year
2010-2011 was not rejected by AICTE on the ground that it had been received late. AICTE processed the proposal received on 5.4.2011
requiring the university to submit (i) Letter of Approval of AICTE for the
session 2010-11, (ii) Annexure-I (details for seats allocation) and
annexure-II and (iii) Indemnity bond and Pre-receipt. This was followed
by a reminder dated 11.10.2011 and 26.3.2012. It would thus be seen that
the delay in submitting the proposal for disbursal of scholarship was not
fatal and AICTE was in a position to disburse the scholarship even on the
strength of the proposal received on 4.4.2011.
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