The Madras High Court has recently imposed a cost of ₹5 lakh on a private college for having admitted “gullible students” despite the withdrawal of its affiliation and directed that such an amount be distributed among the 100 affected students.
Justice CV Karthikeyan of the Madurai Bench stated in his order, “The main aim of the petitioner was to collect money from gullible students. The bank account of the petitioner has been enriched by the fees paid by the students. Therefore, the petitioner is fighting for their own cause and certainly not for the cause of students. If they were interested, they would not have admitted the students in the first place.”
The Court passed the order in a petition filed by Arulmigu Kalasalingam College of Education, seeking a grant of “continuation of affiliation” for the years 2021-2022 so that students from the said academic year could pursue internships and write semester examinations.
The affiliation of the College was withdrawn by the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University in March 2021.
The judge noted that though the institution was once again granted recognition in the academic year 2022-2023, the college, therefore, admitted 100 students in the year 2021 without any approval or affiliation.
The petitioner college urged the Court to take a lenient view, keeping in mind the future of the affected students.
However, the Court rejected the plea, stating that “The Petitioner is probably of the opinion that by considering the condition of the students, this Court would pass a favorable order. But the petitioner cannot expect such an order from this Court and they should suffer the consequences since they had violated the rules and they had not followed the rules.”
Further, it said that the college can’t claim ignorance of rules and the requirements of Section 17(4) of the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993 “very specifically states that if any degree is granted by a college, which had admitted students during the period when the College suffered from the withdrawal of recognition or affiliation, then such a degree or certificate cannot be treated as a valid qualification for the purpose of employment.”
Furthermore, it added that if the college was unaware of such rules, then it had no right to function as an educational institution.
The order stated that “The course under issue is B.Ed., Course. They train students to become teachers. For a student, who aspires to become a teacher, upholding moral ethics should be the first quality. While that being so, the petitioner has fallen foul with that ethics.”
Thus, Justice Karthikeyan directed the petitioner college to deposit the ₹5 lakh costs with the Madras High Court Legal Services Committee, Madurai. It directed the Member Secretary of the Committee to reach out to the 100 students who were admitted by the college, and disburse the amount among them.
