Madras High Court slaps ₹5 lakh costs on college for admitting 100 students without having affiliation

The Madras High Court recently imposed costs of ₹5 lakh on a private college for having admitted "gullible students" despite the withdrawal of its affiliation and directed that such amount be distributed among the 100 affected students..Justice CV Karthikeyan of the Madurai Bench said in his order,"The main aim of the petitioner (college) 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 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from the said academic year could pursue internships and write semester examinations.The affiliation of the College was withdrawn by the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University in March 2021. Though the institution was once again granted recognition in the academic year 2022-2023, the college had admitted 100 students in the year 2021 without any approval or affiliation, the judge noted.The petitioner college urged the Court to take a lenient view, keeping in mind the future of the affected students..The Court, however, rejected the plea, saying,"The Petitioner is probably of the opinion that by considering the condition of the students, this Court would pass a favourable 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.".It further said that the college cannot 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 withdrawal of recognition or affiliation, then such a degree or certificate cannot be treated as a valid qualification for the purpose of employment." It added that if the college was unaware of such rules, then it had no right to function as an educational institution. "The course under issue is B.Ed., Course. They train students to become teachers. For a student, who aspires to become a teacher, to uphold moral ethics should be the first quality. While that being so, the petitioner has fallen foul with that ethics," the order stated..Justice Karthikeyan thus 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..Advocate E Somasundaram appeared for the petitioner college.Advocate Su Srinivasan appeared for the respondents - the National Council For Teacher Education, and its Appeal Committee.Advocate F Deepak appeared for the respondent Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University..[Read order]