Founder's Quota At Alagappa Chettiar College Of Engineering Illegal
New Delhi:
The Madras High Court has directed Dr. Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology to discontinue 'founder's quota'. The court said that the quota is illegal and directed that the college not to fill up 12 seats under this quota. The college is now run by Tamil Nadu government. The first bench comprising of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice P Devadass passed an interim order and said that Prima facie it appeared that the reservation of the 12 seats under founder's quota was illegal as per an order passed by Supreme Court.
The Bench said, "There will, therefore be an interim order directing the authorities of the State to proceed with the selection of candidates. However, no admission shall be made under the founder's quota until further orders of this court." The bench also said that admission may be done under general and other quota.
According to PTI, the interim order was passed after hearing a PIL petition by E Sankar, an advocate. The petition sought declaration that admission of students under 'founder's quota' in the college was illegal, void, and contrary to the provisions of Tamil Nadu Admission in Professional Educational Institutions Act, 2006.
The petitioner claimed that even candidates who did not fulfill the eligibility criteria and did not have the required cut off marks were admitted under this quota and that there was a racket operating which sold a few government seats every year.
The college is run and managed by Dr. Alagppa Chettiar Educational Trust which is a public trust. In 1985, all the trustees agreed to hand over the college with all the attached properties to the government. Government accepted the offer and took over certain responsibilities related to the college management.
He said that contrary to admission procedures and various rules, a provision was made to admit a certain number of students nominated by persons related to the family of college founder, at both Guindy and Karaikudi campus in the name of founder's quota.
The petitioner contended that these admission can only regulated under Tamil Nadu Admission in Professional Educational Institutions Act, which says that all seats in government colleges can be filled only by appropriate authority on merit basis. The petitioner said that the filling up seats under the founder's quota was unfair to deserving students. He said that the permission to fill up seats under founder's quota was a violation of the Act.
The court has asked Government Pleader M K Subramanian on behalf of the State government and A L Gandhimathi for AICTE and M Vijayakumar, counsel for Anna University to file their counter affidvits by June 6. The matter has been posted for next hearing on June 14.
(With Inputs from PTI)
The Bench said, "There will, therefore be an interim order directing the authorities of the State to proceed with the selection of candidates. However, no admission shall be made under the founder's quota until further orders of this court." The bench also said that admission may be done under general and other quota.
According to PTI, the interim order was passed after hearing a PIL petition by E Sankar, an advocate. The petition sought declaration that admission of students under 'founder's quota' in the college was illegal, void, and contrary to the provisions of Tamil Nadu Admission in Professional Educational Institutions Act, 2006.
The petitioner claimed that even candidates who did not fulfill the eligibility criteria and did not have the required cut off marks were admitted under this quota and that there was a racket operating which sold a few government seats every year.
The college is run and managed by Dr. Alagppa Chettiar Educational Trust which is a public trust. In 1985, all the trustees agreed to hand over the college with all the attached properties to the government. Government accepted the offer and took over certain responsibilities related to the college management.
He said that contrary to admission procedures and various rules, a provision was made to admit a certain number of students nominated by persons related to the family of college founder, at both Guindy and Karaikudi campus in the name of founder's quota.
The petitioner contended that these admission can only regulated under Tamil Nadu Admission in Professional Educational Institutions Act, which says that all seats in government colleges can be filled only by appropriate authority on merit basis. The petitioner said that the filling up seats under the founder's quota was unfair to deserving students. He said that the permission to fill up seats under founder's quota was a violation of the Act.
The court has asked Government Pleader M K Subramanian on behalf of the State government and A L Gandhimathi for AICTE and M Vijayakumar, counsel for Anna University to file their counter affidvits by June 6. The matter has been posted for next hearing on June 14.
(With Inputs from PTI)
