Educational Institutions Can’t Refuse NOC If Student Wish To Migrate: Gujarat HC

The Gujarat High Court has recently ordered the SAL School of Architecture in Ahmedabad to issue NOC to one of its Bachelor of Architecture students who, after completing one academic year at SAL, has taken provisional admission at Nirma University.

The single-judge bench of Justice Bhargav D. Karia ruled, “Respondent No.1 (SAL School of Architecture) cannot deny NOC when the petitioner does not want to study with the respondent No.1-Institute and more particularly, when the petitioner has studied 3rd Semester in the Nirma University and in such circumstances, in order to see that the petitioner continues the study of Bachelor of Architecture without any hindrance, respondent No.1 is hereby directed to issue NOC to the petitioner within two days from today.”

It was the case where the petitioner claimed that he enrolled in the course of Bachelor of Architecture in 2021-22 at Sal School of Architecture (SAL), which is affiliated with Gujarat Technological University (GTU), and  Council of Architecture, Ministry of Education, Government of India.

After completing his first academic year with SAL, the petitioner was granted temporary admission to the Nirma University’s Institution of Architecture and Planning in Ahmedabad.

The petitioner sought the SAL to deliver the NOC and Migration Certificate necessary for regularization and admission to Nirma University in an email dated December 12, 2022.

The petitioner claimed that SAL requested money for the remaining four years from him, failing which the no would be issued. The petitioner then moved the High Court since he did not obtain any response from the SAL college.

Rathin Rawal, the petitioner’s counsel, stated in court that there are no Rules, Regulations, or Acts that limit SAL from providing NOC and that SAL has retained the petitioner’s NOC for no reason.

Udit Vyas, Counsel for SAL College, submitted that respondent No. 2 (GTU) defined the method for processing the application for transfer from one college to another in a circular dated July 15, 2021.

It was further contended that the deadline for submitting the aforementioned application on the Portal of respondent no. 3- Council of Architecture had passed, and so the petitioner could not get transfer to another institute. As a result, giving a NOC to the petitioner was out of the question.

The Counsel for SAL stated that because the petitioner did not attend any 3rd semester classes with SAL, there was no issue of providing NOC to the petitioner.

The counsel for  Council of Architecture stated that the Council of Architecture has previously requested that the SAL college conduct the necessary.

The Court observed,” The petitioner, after taking admission in the Course of Bachelor of Architecture with Institute in the year 2021, was desirous to migrate to other institute from the 3rd Semester and accordingly, got the admission with the Nirma Institute on 26.07.2022. The petitioner was therefore justified in applying for NOC with the respondent No.1-Institute.”

As a result, the Court ordered the SAL School of Architecture to give a NOC to the petitioner within two days.