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Foundation for Organisational Research and Education "FORE School of Management" v. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2017 INSC 472Decided 30 May 2017
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 388 of 2017
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Deepak Gupta

Background

AICTE had, by a letter dated 10.04.2017, approved FORE School of Management's request to increase intake in its PGDM (International Business) program from 60 to 120 seats, and the institution admitted students on that basis. AICTE then issued a corrigendum on 21.04.2017 withdrawing the increase, citing lack of current accreditation from the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), even though the institution's earlier NBA accreditation had only lapsed pending a renewal application that was still being processed.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that AICTE had originally sanctioned the increase only after being satisfied the institution met requirements, and that the institution's NBA renewal had in fact come through on 18.05.2017, with students already admitted in good faith against the increased intake. Finding no remaining justification to deny the benefit, the Court allowed the writ petition outright, set aside AICTE's corrigendum letter, and restored the original letter permitting the increase to 120 seats.

Lesson Learnt

A regulator cannot retract an approval already relied upon by an institution and its admitted students merely because of a temporary administrative delay in a renewal that was timely applied for and later granted: courts will protect legitimate reliance on an official sanction.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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