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TMI Blog1995 (3) TMI 466X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion to the State of Tamil Nadu, declaring inter alia that the powers of the Legislature of the State shall be exercisable by or under the authority of Parliament. Parliament under Article 357 (1)-(a) of the Constitution enacted the Tamil Nadu State Legislature (Delegation of Powers) Act, 1976 whereby it conferred on the President of India the powers of the Legislature of the State of Tamil Nadu to make laws in relation to State of Tamil Nadu. In exercise of the said powers the President of India enacted the Act to provide for the regulation of private colleges in the State of Tamil Nadu. Chapter 11 (Sections 3 to 10) make provisions for establishment, permission to establishment and management of the private colleges. In Chapter III (Sections 11 to 14) provision is made for college committee and its constitution and functions. Chapter IV (Sections 15 to 24) deals with the terms and conditions of service of teachers and other persons employed in private colleges. Chapter V (Sections 25 to 32) relates to control of private colleges. Other provisions are contained in Chapter VI (Accounts, Audit, Inspection and Furniture), Chapter VII (General Provisions regarding Appeal and Revisional ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... it was asserted that the professional and technical colleges, like the College, are not included within the purview of the Act and the Rules and that the Central Government as well as the State Government have both proceeded on the basis that the provisions of the Act and the Rules do not cover such professional colleges. 5.At this stage it would be relevant to mention that the All India Council for Technical Education [AICTE] was established by the Government of India by a Government resolution in 1945 as a national expert body to advise the Central and the State Governments for ensuring the coordinated development of technical education in accordance with approved standards. Till the enactment of the All India Council for Technical Education Act, 1987, whereby the AICTE was established was a statutory body, the AICTE was functioning as a non-statutory body. Keeping in view the scheme of financial assistance of the Government of India for the development of technical education and the recommendations made by the Government of India in that regard, the Government of Madras, by GO No. 1174 dated July 4, 1957, set up a State Board of Technical Education and Training for the State ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or any authority authorised by the Government in this behalf from time to time. Article 5 specifies the grants may be (i) Technical grants, for teaching which are recurring, and (ii) Building and equipment grants, for the construction, enlargement, improvement and purchase of institutional buildings and for purchase of furniture, apparatus, chemicals and appliances or books for institutional libraries and of the plant, materials, equipment and tools requires for laboratories and workshops, which are nonrecurring. In Chapter II of the Grant-in-Aid Code the conditions of aid are laid down which include the constitution of the Governing Council, its functions, meetings, endowments, selection of staff and their conditions of service and admission of students, etc. Article 21 in the said Chapter provides that no new course shall be started or intake to the approved courses increased without the prior approval of (1) the All-India Council for Technical Education and its Southern Regional Committee or (2) the Central Government in the Ministry of Education or (3) the Government/Director as the case may be. Chapter III of the Grantin- Aid Code deals with non-recurring grant for Building ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... use (d) of Rule 2 to mean the Director of Collegiate Education who has been assigned various functions in relation to private colleges under the Rules. Mere is no reference to Director of Technical Education in the Rules. 13.Before the High Court the State of Tamil Nadu as well as the Union of India, who had been impleaded as respondents in Writ Petition No. 3205 of 1981 filed by the College, had taken the stand that the College was not covered by the provisions of the Act and the Rules. The stand of the State in these appeals is, however, completely opposite inasmuch as it has been contended on behalf of the State that private professional colleges imparting technical education fall within the ambit of the Act and the Rules. 14.Before we proceed further we may briefly refer to an earlier Writ Petition No. 2756 of 1976 filed by Kasilingam in the High Court. An enquiry was pending against Kasilingam and during the pendency of the said enquiry Kasilingam is alleged to have given a letter of resignation on March 19, 1976 with a request that he be relieved of his duties from the College after six months from the date of that letter. This letter was accepted by the Principal of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed that the decision in Writ Petition No. 2756 of 1976 holding that professional colleges are included in the definition of private college contained in sub-section (8) of Section 2 of the Act operates as res-judicata. The said contention was rejected by the High Court on the view that the judgment in Writ Petition No. 2756 of 1976 was one of dismissal of the writ petition and the College could not be said to be a person aggrieved by the judgment and that neither die Union of India nor the Government of Tamil Nadu were parties to the Writ Petition. According to the High Court the conduct of the College in not questioning the jurisdiction of the Government in entertaining the appeal on the ground that the Act and the Rules are not applicable and fighting the case on merits at the subsequent stages could not in any way be considered as a conduct which would preclude the College from agitating the question of the validity or applicability of the Act and the Rules. 16.On an examination of the provisions of the Act and the Rules as well as the Grant-in-Aid Code the High Court has held that professional private colleges are outside the ambit of the Act and the Rules. Referring to th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... litude of the Act cannot be, curtailed by the provisions contained in the Rules. Shri Rao has also urged that the matters dealt with in the Act do not relate to co-ordination and determination of standards in institutions for higher education for research and scientific and technical institutions and, therefore, the Act cannot be said to be law in respect of matters failing under Entry 66 of List I and that it relates to matters failing under Entry 25 of List III. 19.We will first deal with the contention urged by Shri Rao based on the provisions of the Act and the Rules. It is nodoubt true that in view of clause (3) of Section 1 the Act applies to all private colleges. The expression college is, however, not defined in the Act. The expression private college is defined in Clause (8) of Section 2 which can, in the absence of any indication of a contrary intention, cover all colleges including professional and technical colleges. An indication about such an intention is, however, given in Rules wherein the expression college has been defined in Rule 2(b) to mean and include Arts and Science College, Teachers Training College, Physical Education College, Oriental College, S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n entrusted with the functions of proper implementation of those provisions. There is nothing to show that the said arrangement was not working satisfactorily so as to be replaced by the system sought to be introduced by the Act and the Rules. Rule 2(d), on the other hand, gives an indication that there was no intention to disturb the existing arrangement regarding private engineering colleges because in that Rule the expression Director is defined top mean the Director of Collegiate Education The Director of Technical Education is not included in the said definition indicating that the institutions which are under the control of Directorate of College Education only are to be covered by the Act and the Rules and technical educational institutions in the State of Tamil Nadu which am controlled by the Director of Technical Education arc not so covered. 20. The Rules have been made in exercise of the power conferred by Section 53 of the Act. Under Section 54(2) of the Act every rule made under the Act is required to be placed on the table of both Houses of the Legislature as soon as possible after it is made. It is accepted principle of statutory construction that rules made un ..... 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