NIST, Rourkela vs State Of Odisha & Others

This matter is taken up by virtual/physical mode.

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

The petitioner-Engineering College has sought a direction to Odisha Joint Entrance Examination/ O.P.No.3 to include the petitioner-college in the ongoing Web counseling being held by OJEE in respect of permitting the admission as per sanctioned intake of students/seats in various engineering technical courses for the academic year 2021-22 in terms of the extension of the approval dated 1st July, 2021( Annexure-3) granted by AICTE.

The stand of the University, in nutshell, is that the NIST, Rourkela i.e. changed name has not been granted affiliation in view of the fact that no NOC was granted for change of name of the college from the Padmanava College of Engineering to NIST, Rourkela which is mandatory provision to be followed by AICTE before permitting the change of the name.

An application for being permitted to join the proceedings as intervenors has been filed by National Institute of Science and Technology (erstwhile NIST, Berhampur) resisting/ contesting the plea of the petitioner-institute to admit the students under the new name on the ground that one of the main Trustee is now promoter of the present college and likely to misuse the goodwill of the applicant-college. It is our considered view that a separate writ petition i.e. W.P.(C) No. 21461 of 2021 filed by the intervenor-applicant challenging the extension of approval by AICTE to the change of name of the petitioner from Padmanava College of Engineering to NIST, Rourkela vide its letter dated 1st July, 2021 stands filed, which is pending. Thus, we do not deem it proper to entertain the present intervenor application i.e. I.A. No.15611 of 2021.

Learned counsel for the petitioner-institute submits that the sole provision regulating the change of name of existing institution is Clause 2.19.1 of Approval Process Hand Book 2021-22 issued by AICTE. No doubt, in terms of the provision of the said Clause, prior NOC from the affiliating University i.e. opposite party No.4-BPUT was/is required.

However, if the same is not received within stipulated time, the AICTE is free to proceed for grant of approval of change of name with the sanction of the intake of students in various courses.

It is urged that in terms of the said provision and the fact that the petitioner-college submitted an application to the University for grant of NOC dated 10th June, 2021 and no response having been sent by the University to the AICTE, the approval by AICTE with the changed name dated 1st July, 2021 is legal and valid.

Learned counsel for the University, upon instruction from the Registrar, who has presented himself in compliance of the order of this Court, except the non-grant of NOC, could not point out any other deficiency and shortcoming in grant of approval by the AICTE. Further we find the petitioner-institute had made application dated 21st July, 2021 (A-5) applied to the University for grant of affiliation under the new name, which was required to be decided by the extended time of 10th October, 2021, which the University failed to do so. Thus, there is no laxity on the part of the petitioner-college in adhering the time lines. It is equally well settled that the approval granted by the AICTE in technical education cannot be negated by hyper-technicalities raised by the State or the University.

In view of the aforesaid, at this stage, we deem it appropriate to direct the OJEE/ O.P. No.3 to include the name of the petitioner-institute in ongoing counseling and to upload the sanction intake of seats as per the approval dated 1st July, 2021 granted by AICTE in the seat matrix of the OJEE-2021 counselling schedule for admission into the B.Tech (Engineering)/L.E. (Lateral Entry) Engineering courses for the current academic Sessions 2021-22 under the name of NIST, Rourkela (erstwhile Padmanava College of Engineering) subject to the decision of the writ petition.

The OJEE/O.P. and opposite party No;3 will ensure that their portal is kept open for permitting the admission to the petitioner-institute in terms of approval by the AICTE dated 1st July, 2021 (Annexure-3), by extending period of functioning of the portal up to 5th November, 2021.

List this matter on 21st December, 2021 along with W.P.(C) No. 21461 of 2021.

............................