in the high court of judicature of bombay (appellate...

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY (APPELLATE SIDE JURISDICTION)

WRIT PETITION No. __________ OF 2016

DISTRICT: MUMBAI

IN THE MATTER OF ARTICLES 12, 14, 21, 21A OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA;

AND

IN THE MATTER OF GOVERNMENT RESOLUTION DATED 04-12-2015 ISSUED B Y T H E H I G H E R A N D T E C H N I C A L EDUCATION DEPARTMENT;

AND

IN THE MATTER OF NOTIFICATION DATED 13-04-2016 ISSUED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH ITS STATE COMMON ENTRANCE TEST CELL.

Shalini D/o Harishkumar Kotian;

Age: 17 years (minor) Through her father and natural guardian: Harishkumar Kotian, Age: 55 years; Occ.: service; R/o: 6/601 ShreeKrishna Paradise Sector 12, Behind Prime MallKharghar 410210 ….. PETITIONER

VERSUS

1. The State of Maharashtra

Through its Secretary,

Higher and Technical Education Department,

Mantralaya, Mumbai – 32.

2. The State Common Entrance Cell,

Through its Commissioner

305, III Floor, Govt. Polytechnic Building,

49 Kherwadi, Bandra (E) Mumbai – 400051

3. Director,

Higher Education,

Maharashtra State,

Pune ….RESPONDENTS

To, THE HON’BLE CHIEF JUSTICE AND OTHER HON’BLE PUISNE JUDGES OF THE HON’BLE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY

THE HUMBLE PETITION OF PETITIONER ABOVENAMED

MOST RESPECTFULLY SUBMIT THAT:

1. The petitioner is a citizen of India and

resident of the above mentioned address.

2. The petitioner has completed her Higher

S e c o n d a r y C e r t i f i c a t e E x a m i n a t i o n

conducted in February 2016 scor ing

65.54%, an aspirant to pursue a degree

course in law. Being a minor she has filed

the present writ petition through her father.

3. The petitioner has been a meritorious

student all through her school life and had

an aspiration to undertake the integrated 5-

year law course post class 12th from one of

the reputed colleges in Maharashtra like

ILS, Pune or GLC, Mumbai geared towards

litigation.

4. Till the current year the admissions in all

the law colleges in Maharashtra including

ILS, Pune or GLC, Mumbai were based on

class XII results. However, for the academic

year 2016-17 onwards the Government of

Maharashtra has introduced a common

entrance test to be conducted under the

direction of the Commissionarate of State

Common Entrance Test Cell for all the law

colleges in the State.

5. While there is nothing wrong in introducing

a uniform admission standard across all

law colleges in Maharashtra, the manner in

which the common law entrance test has

been introduced and the amount of chaos it

has caused, is certainly violative of the

fundamental right to education and the

right to equality of the petitioner.

6. The CET was introduced for the law-degree

admissions for 5 year as well as 3 year

courses vide G.R. dated 04-12-2015, a copy

of which is annexed herewith and marked

as Exhibit “A”.

7. The G.R. dated 04-12-2015 notified the

introduction of the CET for admission to 5

year as well as 3 year courses in law

starting from the academic year 2016-17.

The G.R. further states that the CET would

be conducted under the aiges of the

Commissioner, State Common Entrance

Tes t Ce l l ( r espondent No . 2 here in ) .

However, it is conspicuous that the G.R.

does not make a mention of the syllabus for

the entrance examination or even the time

period within which such syllabus would be

notified.

8. By way of a Notification dated 11-03-2016,

the Government of Maharashtra through its

H igher and Technica l Educat ion has

declared the eligibility for admission to 5-

year and 3-year law courses, and has made

a mention of ‘obtained score in CET

conducted by the competent authority’. A

copy of the Notification dated 11-03-2016 is

annexed herewith and marked at Exhibit

“B”.

9. By way of notification dated 13-04-2016,

the Commissioner, State Common Entrance

Test Cell (respondent No. 2 herein) has

declared the date of the Maharashtra Law

CET (5-years) as 18 June and Maharashtra

Law CET (3-years) as 19 June. A copy of the

notification dated 13-04-2016 is annexed

herewith and marked at Exhibit “C”.

10. Even in this notification there was no

mention of the syllabus of the law common

entrance test for the State of Maharashtra.

11. The petitioner submits that she had read in

the newspapers sometime in December 2015

regarding the introduction of CET for law

admissions in Maharashtra, as a result of

which she has regular ly checked the

website of the Commissionarate of State

Common Entrance Test Cell, who had been

b e s t o w e d w i t h t h e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y o f

conducting the said CET, for any update on

the syllabus or pattern of the MAH-LAW

C E T e x a m t o b e c o n d u c t e d f o r t h e

admissions in academic year 2016-17.

12. The petitioner since was unable to find a

single notification with regards to the

syllabus or pattern of examination for the

MAH-LAW CET exam to be conducted for the

admissions in academic year 2016-17, had

begun to feel that the CET was probably

pushed to the next academic year, and that

admissions would be carried out based on

the earlier method of class XII results itself.

13. H o w e v e r, t o t h e u t t e r s h o c k o f t h e

petitioner, she was intimated by some of her

friends who were also aspiring to undertake

an education in law, that there was a

private website on the internet which had

some information with regards to the MAH-

LAW CET exam to be conducted for the


14. It is then that the petitioner was introduced

t o a c o u p l e o f p r i v a t e w e b s i t e s

including<http://www.law.careers360.com/

articles/mh-cet-law-2016> which had the

deadlines, a vague outline of syllabus and

link to the application forms to be available

f rom May 10, 2016 as wel l as some

information with regards to the publication

of marks, counseling etc. Copy of the

collective information available on the

private websites is annexed herewith and

marked as Exhibit “D”.

NO INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE ON THE OFFICIAL

WEBSITE OF COMMISSIONARATE OF STATE COMMON

ENTRANCE TEST CELL OR OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE

DIRECTOR OF HIGHER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

15. The petitioner submits that none of this

information, especially the information

pertaining to the syllabus and examination

pattern of the CET examination for law

http://www.law.careers360.com/articles/mh-cet-law-2016

courses in Maharashtra was made known to

the public through the official website of the

C o m m i s s i o n a r a t e o f S t a t e C o m m o n

Entrance Test Cell, which was the body

responsible for holding the law CET.

16. As a matter of fact, there is no information

on the website of the State Common

Entrance Test Cell, the body responsible for

holding the law CET, with regards to the

MAH-LAW CET exam to be conducted for the


There is only mention of MHT-CET and

FAQ’s relating to MHT-CET.

17. The petitioner submits that she has even

checked the official website of the Director

of Higher and Technical Education and

while the publication of the syllabus and

exam pattern of the professional courses

i n c l u d i n g t h e C E T f o r M B A , M C A ,

Architecture courses and Hotel Management

courses is easily available whereas there is

nothing available with regards to the CET

for law courses admissions. A copy of the

publication of syllabus with regards to CET

for professional courses including MBA,

MCA, Architecture courses and Hote l

Management courses is annexed herewith

and marked at Exhibit “E”.

18. Also, the helpline numbers available on the

of f ic ia l website of the State Common

Entrance Test Cell, the body responsible for

holding the law CET, are only for the

‘Health Science courses’ and ‘Engineering

and Pharmacy’ courses, none of which were

aware about the law CET or the syllabus for

the same. A copy of the print out of the

of f ic ial web-page of theState Common

Entrance Test Cell is annexed herewith and

marked at Exhibit “F”.

19. The petitioner submits that she apprehends

that the app l i ca t ion for ms would be

available on the 10th of May, 2016 and

Maharashtra Law CET would be conducted

on 18-19 June 2016, without having

provided a clear direction on the syllabus

and pattern of the CET examination.

20. Further the petitioner has also consulted

with the reputed colleges like the ILS, Pune

and GLC, Mumbai to confirm whether

admissions will be through CET and if the

colleges are aware about the exact syllabus

and pattern of paper for the examination.

To the utter surprise of the petitioner the

colleges were as unaware about the exact

state of affairs so far as the syllabus and

paper pattern of the CET was concerned, as

he was. The colleges had informed the

petitioner that none of their academics had

been invited to be a part of the team setting

papers or determining the pattern of CET

Examination.

21. T h e p e t i t i o n e r s u b m i t s t h a t i f t h e

academic ians f rom the most r eputed

colleges in the State were not involved in

setting papers or determining the pattern of

CET Examination, it was rather doubtful

that there was in-fact any team of experts

which has conducted some research and

has come up with the paper pattern and will

set the paper for the CET Examination.

22. The petitioner submits that if the syllabus

or the paper pattern is not available to her

in advance, she may lose a very significant

opportunity to pursue legal education in

premier institutions of the country to the

vagaries of fate. The petitioner who has

been an academically brilliant student

through-out may have to waste a year in

order to secure a position at one of the

premier institutions of the country as the

syllabus of the CET is not made known to

her or the public at large, and there is not

adequate time to prepare for the same.

23. It is very recently that the petitioner has

f o u n d a l i n k t o a w e b s i t e c a l l e d

<mahacet.org> on the official website of ILS

with regards to information about CET. It is

after going through a labyrinth ofweb-pages

and links, she was able to find a brochure

with regards to all the information of CET

compiled together. The said brochure for 5-

year law course and 3-year law course had

been uploaded only on 09-05-2016 andis

the first official document with the syllabus

for the CET. Even in this document the

syllabus prescribed is rather vague and

without specifications, and the document is

hidden away under several deeplinks in an

o b s c u r e w e b s i t e w i t h a l m o s t n o

visibility.There was also a notification with

regards to eligibility of the courses dated

07-05-2016. A copy o f the web-page

showing the brochure being uploaded on

09-05-2016 and copies of the relevant

ex t rac t o f sy l labus o f the CET f rom

b r o c h u r e s f o r 5 - y e a r a n d 3 - y e a r

examination as well as the notifications

with regards to eligibility of the courses

dated 07-05-2016are annexed herewith and

marked at Exhibit “G” collectively.

CET CONDUCTED UNDER MAHARASHTRA UNAIDED PRIVATE

PROFESSIONAL, EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (REGULATIONS

OF ADMISSION AND FEES) ACT, 2015

24. The petitioner submits that the State

Legislature passed the Maharashtra Unaided

Private Professional, Educational Institutions

(Regulations of Admission and Fees) Act, 2015.

Meanwhile, the Government in Higher and

Technical Education Department published a

notification in exercise of powers conferred by

the said Act. Accordingly the Maharashtra

Unaided Private Professional, Educational

Institutions (Regulations of Admission to the

Full-time professional Undergraduate Law

courses Rules, 2016 came to be framed and

brought into force from 02-02-2016. Copies of

the Act of 2015 and the Rules of 2016 framed

under it are annexed herewith and marked at

Exhibit “H” collectively.

25. The CET cannot be applied and introduced to

the Government and aided law colleges in

Maharashtra. Similarly, the Rules framed in

2016 vide notification dated 02-04-2016 would

be appl icable only to unaided pr ivate

professional education institutions i.e. only to

unaided law colleges in Maharashtra in the case

at hand.

26. The wholesale extension of 2016 Rules to

Government and aided law colleges smacks of

arbitrariness and non-application of mind

because the structure in aided colleges and

Government colleges is completely different from

unaided colleges. For example, unaided colleges

have management quota and the Government

unaided colleges do not have unaided quota. It

would be mechanical on the part of the

Government to make Management quota

inapplicable in case of unaided colleges and

apply the Rules of 2016 to all the Government

law Colleges irrespective of the facts as to

whether such colleges are Government aided or

unaided.

27. It is mechanical to treat B.A. LLB and B.B.A

LLB the integrated 5-year courses at par as the

undergraduate stream is entirely different. The

students aspiring to join law colleges of their

choice are not provided with any guidance about

the preference systemor counseling. Generally,

the competitive examinations such as CET are

required when there is a shortfall between the

seats available and the number of students

seeking admission. Presently, there is no such

short-fall in Maharashtra, as such, the decision

of the Government to hold CET for law

admissions is unjustifiable.

28. The petitioner submits that the Act of 2016

cannot be extended to the Government law

colleges or aided law colleges in Maharashtra,

muchtheless by notification or circular which

would suffer from excessive delegation.

29. The petitioner submits that there is no

guidance so as to provide a basis to lay down

the cap on the Maharashtra seats. Similarly,

there is no guidance whatsoever as to how to

prepare a merit list of aided and unaided law

colleges and allocate colleges to students as per

their preference.

NO EXPERT INVOLVED IN PAPER-SETTING

30. The petitioner submits that the Government or

the so-called ‘experts’ appointed by the

Government have not done any home-work to

either prepare syllabus or appointed experts for

paper setting. Similarly, no criterion is laid down

to select the examiners. As a result many

inexperienced and junior teachers are appointed

as examiners.

31. The petitioner submits that no appoint is made

to consult senior professors outside of the State,

more particularly those having experience of

setting CLAT papers.

SHORTFALL OF APPLICATIONS

32. The petitioner has come to understand that the

total number of applications for the MH-CET are

much less than the number of seats in 5-year

and 3-year law courses in the State. The first

deadline for receiving applications was 23 May

2016, but was extended to 03 June 2016 as the

number of applications was lower than the

number of seats available. The total number of

applications finally received for the MH-CET is

nearly 28,000 whereas the total number of seats

available in all the colleges across Maharashtra

in 5-year and 3-year courses is nearly 34,000.

Add to this disparity a general drop-out rate of

30%, nearly half the seats of law colleges are

likely to go unfilled owing to the introduction of

the CET. A copy of the notification extending

deadline is annexed herewith and marked at

Exhibit “I”.

33. It is for all these reasons that the CET is illegal

and cannot be permitted to be held for

admissions of the law colleges in Maharashtra.

34. The petitioner further submits that despite

her persistent efforts of checking the official

website and enquiring with the helpline

numbers of the State Common Entrance

Test Cell, the body responsible for holding

the law CET, she has been unable to know

the syllabus or paper pattern for the CET,

meaning thereby, that the students at large

who are relying on the admissions to be on

the basis of their class XII marks would

have no information about the same.

35. The petitioner further states that her father

and natural guardian is not sighted and has

thus felt the discrimination in policies of

education and employment towards to

v i sua l l y impa i r ed . Hav ing f i r s t hand

suf fered f rom v isual impairment , the

petitioners’ father and natural guardian

who has filed this petition on her behalf is

equally concerned about the of special

facilities for the provision of taking the CET

examination by the visually impaired either

by providing the question script in brail or

screen reading softwares like JAWS or by

providing a reader and extra t ime to

complete the examination. However, there is

no guideline regarding the same in the

brochure and no information about applying

from special needs category.

36. Thus apart from the blatent illegalities of

procedure, the CET of law is also completely

oblivious to the rights of students with

disabilities, particularly students with Visual

impairments. Exclusion of Students of with

disabilities from the consideration zone while

framing the rules for the conducting of Test is

not only unconstitutional being violative of Art

14 but also flagrant breach of the mandate of

UNCRPD 2006, to which India is one of the state

parties with its ratification, more particularly

Articles 5, 9,12 and 13 thereof. The same also

amounts to virtual non implementation of

Obligation to provide 3% reservations in all

curriculum courses imposed on the appropriate

governments by section 39 of Persons with

disability Act 1995. Needless to mention that the

website of the government advertising the CET

entrance Law is also completely inaccessible to

the visually impaired.

37. Being aggrieved by the non-publication of

t h e s y l l a b u s / p a p e r p a t t e r n o f t h e

Maharashtra Law CET and apprehending

that the same would be conducted on 18-19

June 2016, the pet i t ioner chal lenges

legality, validity and correctness of the

same, on the following amongst other

grounds:

GROUNDS

I. At the outset, the non-publication of

syllabus and paper pattern in case of a

change is in absolute violation of the right

to education as covered under the right to

life as well as the right to equality under

Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

II. The respondents have not noti f ied or

pub l i shed the sy l l abus and /o r the

examination paper pattern for the CET for

law courses in the State of Maharashtra till

date.

III. The non-publication of the change is

syl labus and/or paper pattern of the

admission to law courses, both 3-year and

5-year, is in violation of section 65 of the

Maharashtra Universities Act, 1994.

IV. The section 65 deals with the admissions to

all courses in the University departments

and affiliated colleges and empowers the

State Government to f rame rules for

admissions provided that such rules must

be published in the official gazette or in the

University Gazette.

V. The full bench of the Bombay High Court in

the matter of Govinddas M. Shroff v. State

of Maharashtra reported in 1997 (1) Mah.

L.R. 545 –FB has held in para 15 of the

judgment that ‘section 65 requires that

model rules for admission should be

published in the University Gazette six

months in advance in the interests of the

students. A copy of the judgment is

annexed herewith and marked as Exhibit

“J”.

VI. The Court in the matter of Govinddas M.

Shroff v. State of Maharashtra reported

in 1997 (1) Mah. L.R. 545 –FB has further

held that “In fact section 65 is statutory

recognition of well established principle

that fair play requires that any major

chance in the admission process should be

made known to the students wel l in

advance”.

VII. T h e s y l l a b u s a n d p a p e r p a t t e r n a s

published on the private website mentioned

in the petition is wholly unauthorized and

has no value or authenticity attached to it,

and thus cannot be considered to be

publication under section 65 of the Act.

VIII. Further the syllabus and paper pattern as


in the petit ion too was published on

13-04-2016, that is way too close to the

date of the CET 2016.

IX. T h e s y l l a b u s a n d p a p e r p a t t e r n a s


in the petitionincludes legal aptitude,

logical reasoning, English and current

affairs and G.K. All of these headings are

extremely vague and of general nature,

c r ea t ing a chao t i c s i tua t i on f o r the

students.

X. The pattern of MCQ’s being 150 in 2 hours

based on legal aptitude, logical reasoning,

English and current affairs and G.K., is

quite similar to the Common Law Admission

Test- CLAT paper pattern, for which

students usually undergo training and

preparation for almost a year to be able to

score well so as to get admission in top

National Law Schools.

XI. W i t h o u t s a m p l e p a p e r s , a n d e x a c t

understating of the type of knowledge of

specific sections, the students are in no

position to prepare for a CET of such

important admission decision. For instance

in preparing for English – it is important for

the student to know if he would be tested

on word meanings, or grammar, or unseen

passages or legal jargon. Each of these

varied sub-categories of English testing,

has a very distinct type and level of

preparation that is required.

XII. Even for CLAT which is set every year by a

panel o f experts f rom the organiz ing

National Law University, details of which

are published a year in advance, a Writ

Petition has been filed in the Supreme

Court by a renowned academician Shri.

Shamnaad Basheer, al leging the mal-

practices and impropriety of certain type of

questions in such examinations.

XIII. Further, there is a discrepancy in syllabus

for 5-year course vis-à-vis 3-year course in

as much as mathematics is given no

weightage in the 3-year course. Such a

difference in entrance examination for the

t w o e q u i v a l e n t d e g r e e s i n l a w i s

discriminatory and arbitrary.

XIV. The non-publication of the syllabus of the

CET for law courses in the State of

M a h a r a s h t r a i s u n f a i r , u n j u s t ,

discriminatory and tramples upon the

principle of Rule of Law.

XV. The sudden introduction of the CETfor law

courses in the State of Maharashtra,

without any easily accessible material on

the syllabus, paper patter, paper setting

committee etc is violative of legitimate

e x p e c t a t i o n , a s a l s o s h a k e s p u b l i c

confidence in the admission process.

XVI. The non-publication of the syllabus of the

CET for law courses in the State of

Maharashtra is per se illegal and bad in

law.

XVII. The CET has not taken into consideration

the special needs of dif ferently abled

persons like the visually impaired, nor has

it provided 3% reservation in violation of

section 39 of the Persons with Disabilities

Act, 1995. This discrimination is in flagrant

breach of the Articles 5, 9 and 13 of

UNCRPD 2006, apart from being violative of

Article 14 of the Constitution.

38. The petitioners have not received any notice

of caveat from any of the respondents till

date.

39. The petitioners crave leave to add, amend,

alter, change or delete any ground or

grounds of this application.

40. The petitioners undertake to provide the

English version of the Marathi documents

whenever required or directed.

41. PRAYERS:

42. In view of the above circumstances, this

Hon’ble Court shall be graciously pleased,

under Art. 226 of the Constitution of

India to:

A. The Writ Petition may kindly be allowed;

B. To ho ld and dec la re tha t the non-

publication of the syllabus and paper

pattern of the Maharashtra law CET for 5-

year and 3-year law courses in the State of

Maharashtra is unconstitutional;

C. To quash and set aside the Government

Resolution dated 04-12-2015 issued by the


the Notification dated 11-03-2016 issued by

the Higher and Technica l Educat ion

Department and the Notification dated

13-04-2016 issued by the Government of

Maharashtra through its State Common

Entrance Test Cell, to the extent of holding of

MAH-LAW CET for the academic year 2016-17;

D. To grant interim stay to the Government

Resolution dated 04-12-2015 issued by the


the Notification dated 11-03-2016 issued by

the Higher and Technica l Educat ion

Department and the Notification dated

13-04-2016 issued by the Government of

Maharashtra through its State Common

Entrance Test Cell, to the extent of holding of

MAH-LAW CET for the academic year 2016-17;

E. To direct the respondents to al low the

different colleges and institutions imparting

legal education in the State of Maharashtra to

carry out admission process for the 5-year

and 3-year courses based on class XII

results, pending hearing and final disposal of

the writ petition;

F. To grant any other relief to which the

petitioners are entitled.

AND FOR THIS ACT OF KINDNESS AND JUSTICE,

THE PETITIONERS AS IN DUTY BOUND SHALL

EVER PRAY.

PLACE:- MUMBAI [S.B.TALEKAR] DATE:-13.06.2016 ADVOCATE FOR PETITIONER

SOLEMN AFFIRMATION

I, Harishkumar Kotian, father and natural

guardian of the minor petitioner, aged: 55 years; Occ.:

service; R/o: 6/601 ShreeKrishna Paradise

Sector 12, Behind Prime Mall

Kharghar 410210, do hereby state on solemn

affirmation that the contents of this Writ Petition

from para No. 1 to 26 are true and correct to the

best of my personal knowledge as well as the

knowledge gather from the documents annexed to

the petition and I believe them to be true.

Hence verified on 13th day of June, 2016 at

Aurangabad.

Identified by Deponent

Advocate (Harishkumar Kotian)



DISTRICT:-MUMBAI

Shalini H. Kotian; Through his father and natural guardian: ….. PETITIONER

VERSUS

The State of Maharashtra And others ….RESPONDENTS

LIST OF THE DOCUMENTS

Sr No

Description Exh No.

Page Nos.

1 C o p y o f G . R . d a t e d 04-12-2015 notifying the introduction of the CET for admission to 5-year as well as 3-year courses in law for 2016-17 to be conducted u n d e r t h e a i g e s o f Commissioner, State Common Entrance Test Cell

A To

2 A copy of the Notification dated 11-03-2016 declaring the eligibility criteria for admission to law courses

B To

3 A copy of the notification dated 13-04-2016 declaring the date of the Maharashtra Law CET as 18 and 19 June

C To

4 C o p y o f t h e c o l l e c t i v e information regarding the CET available on the private websites

D To

5. Copy of the publication of syllabus with regards to CET for professional courses i n c l u d i n g M B A , M C A , Architecture courses and Hotel Management courses in the official website of the D i r e c t o r o f H i ghe r and Technical Education.

E TO

6. Copy of the print out of the official web-page of the State Common Entrance Test Cell showing the helpline numbers only for the ‘Health Science courses’ and ‘Engineering and Pharmacy’ courses

F TO

PLACE: MUMBAI [S.B.TALEKAR] DATE:-13.06.2016 ADVOCATE FOR PETITIONER



DISTRICT:-MUMBAI

7. Copy of the web-page showing the brochure being uploaded on 09-05-2016 and copies of t h e r e l e van t e x t r a c t o f syllabus of the CET from brochures for 5-year and 3-year examination and copies of noti f ication regarding eligibility dated 07-05-2016

G

colly

TO

8. C o p i e s o f M a h a r a s h t r a Unaided Private Professional, Educat ional Inst i tut ions (Regulations of Admission and Fees) Act, 2015 and the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional, Educational Institutions (Regulations of Admission to the Full-time professional Undergraduate Law courses) Rules, 2016 made thereunder.

H

colly

TO

Copy of the notification dated 3 0 - 0 5 - 2 0 1 6 e x t e n d i n g deadline for submission of the examination form.

I TO

9. Copy of the judgment of the Bombay High Court in the matter of Govinddas M. S h r o f f v . S t a t e o f Maharashtra reported in 1997 (1) Mah. L.R. 545 –FB mandating publication of change in admission rules 6 monts prior to examination.

J TO

Last page


VERSUS The State of Maharashtra And others ….RESPONDENTS

Sr No

Description Exh No.

Page Nos.

* Memo of the Writ Petition To

** List of the Documents To

1 C o p y o f G . R . d a t e d 04-12-2015 notifying the introduction of the CET for admission to 5-year as well as 3-year courses in law for 2016-17 to be conducted u n d e r t h e a i g e s o f Commissioner, State Common Entrance Test Cell

A To

2 A copy of the Notification dated 11-03-2016 declaring the eligibility criteria for admission to law courses

B To

3 A copy of the notification dated 13-04-2016 declaring the date of the Maharashtra Law CET as 18 and 19 June

C To

4 C o p y o f t h e c o l l e c t i v e information regarding the CET available on the private websites

D To

5. Copy of the publication of syllabus with regards to CET for professional courses i n c l u d i n g M B A , M C A , Architecture courses and Hotel Management courses in the official website of the D i r e c t o r o f H i ghe r and Technical Education.

E TO

6. Copy of the print out of the official web-page of the State Common Entrance Test Cell showing the helpline numbers only for the ‘Health Science courses’ and ‘Engineering and Pharmacy’ courses

F TO

PLACE: MUMBAI [S.B.TALEKAR] DATE:-13.06.2016 ADVOCATE FOR PETITIONER



7. Copy of the web-page showing the brochure being uploaded on 09-05-2016 and copies of t h e r e l e van t e x t r a c t o f syllabus of the CET from brochures for 5-year and 3-year examination and copies of noti f ication regarding eligibility dated 07-05-2016

G

colly

TO

8. C o p i e s o f M a h a r a s h t r a Unaided Private Professional, Educat ional Inst i tut ions (Regulations of Admission and Fees) Act, 2015 and the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional, Educational Institutions (Regulations of Admission to the Full-time professional Undergraduate Law courses) Rules, 2016 made thereunder.

H

colly

TO

Copy of the notification dated 3 0 - 0 5 - 2 0 1 6 e x t e n d i n g deadline for submission of the examination form.

I TO

9. Copy of the judgment of the Bombay High Court in the matter of Govinddas M. S h r o f f v . S t a t e o f Maharashtra reported in 1997 (1) Mah. L.R. 545 –FB mandating publication of change in admission rules 6 monts prior to examination.

J TO

Last page

DISTRICT:-MUMBAI


VERSUS The State of Maharashtra And others ….RESPONDENTS

SYNOPSIS

SR NO

DATES PARTICULARS OF THE EVENTS

1) The Petitioner has passed her class XII exams and is aspir ing to pursue undergraduate degree in law.

2) T i l l t h e c u r r e n t y e a r t h e a d m i s s i o n s i n a l l t h e l a w c o l l e g e s i n M a h a r a s h t r a including ILS, Pune or GLC, Mumbai were based on class XII r e s u l t s . H o w e v e r , f o r t h e academic year 2016-17 onwards the Government of Maharashtra h a s i n t r o d u c e d a C o m m o n Entrance Test to be conducted u n d e r t h e d i r e c t i o n o f t h e C o m m i s s i o n e r a t e o f S t a t e Common Entrance Test Cell for all the law colleges in the State.

3) While there is nothing wrong in introducing a uniform admission standard across all law colleges in Maharashtra, the manner in which the common law entrance test has been introduced and the amount of chaos it has caused, is cer ta in ly v io lat ive o f the fundamental right to education and the right to equality of the petitioner.

4) 04-12-2015 The G.R . da ted 04-12-2015 notified the introduction of the CET for admission to 5 year as well as 3 year courses in law starting from the academic year 2016-17 to be conducted under the aiges of the Commissioner, State Common Entrance Test Cell. However, it is conspicuous that the G.R. does not make a mention of the syllabus for the entrance examination or even the time period within which such syllabus would be notified.

5) The petitioner had kept a regular check on the official website of the Commissionarate of State Common Entrance Cell for any u p d a t e o n t h e s y l l a b u s o r pattern of the MAH-LAW CET exam to be conducted for the admissions in academic year 2016-17. The petitioner did not find a single notification with regards to the same and had begun to feel that the CET was probably pushed to the next a c a d e m i c y e a r , a n d t h a t admissions would be carried out based on the earlier method of class XII results itself.

7) 13-04-2015 However, to the utter shock of the petitioner, she was intimated by some of her friends who were also aspiring to undertake an education in law, that there was a private website on the internet which had some information with regards to the MAH-LAW CET exam to be conducted for the admissions in academic year 2 0 1 6 - 1 7 , i n c l u d i n g t h e deadlines, a vague outline of s y l l a b u s a n d l i n k t o t h e application forms to be available from May 10, 2016 as well as some information with regards to t h e p u b l i c a t i o n o f m a r k s , counseling etc, which was posted on 13-04-2016.

8) As a matter of fact, there is no information on the website of the State Common Entrance Test Cell, with regards to the MAH-LAW CET exam to be conducted for the admissions in academic year 2016-17 apart from the mention of MHT-CET and FAQ’s relating to MHT-CET. A l so , the he lp l ine numbers available on official websites are only for the ‘Health Science courses’ and ‘Engineering and Phar macy ’ courses , none o f which were aware about the law CET or the syllabus for the same.

9) 1997 The full bench of the Bombay High Court in the matter of Govinddas M. Shroff v. State of Maharashtra reported in 1997 (1) Mah. L.R. 545 –FB has held in para 15 of the judgment that ‘section 65 requires that model rules for admission should be publ ished in the Univers i ty Gazette six months in advance in the interests of the students. It further held that “In fact section 65 is statutory recognition of well established principle that fair play requires that any major chance in the admission process should be made known to the students well in advance”. The present case is squarely covered by this judgment.

10) The total number of applications finally received for the MH-CET is nearly 28,000 whereas the total number of seats available in all the colleges across Maharashtra in 5-year and 3-year courses is nearly 34,000. Add to this disparity a general drop-out rate of 30%, nearly half the seats of law colleges are likely to go unfilled owing to the introduction of the CET.

POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION:

As set out in the grounds/ Petition

ACTS AND RULES:

1. THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

CITATIONS:

Govinddas M. Shroff v. State of Maharashtra reported in 1997 (1) Mah. L.R. 545 –FB.

PLACE: - MUMBAI [S.B.TALEKAR]

The notifications introducing the CET and stating its eligibility are issued under the Maharashtra under the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional, Educational Ins t i tu t i ons (Regu la t i ons o f Admission and Fees) Act, 2015 and Rules framed thereunder, which cannot be made applicable to the Government or aided law colleges.

11) 18/19-06-2016 1. The petitioner apprehends that the Maharashtra Law CET would be conducted on 18-19 June 2016, without h a v i n g p r o v i d e d a c l e a r direction on the syllabus and p a t t e r n o f t h e C E T examination, and she having not applied to the CET would lose a year or the opportunity to pursue a degree in law.

12) Being aggrieved by the non-publicat ion of the syl labus/p a p e r p a t t e r n o f t h e M a h a r a s h t r a L a w C E T a n d apprehending that the same would be conducted on 18-19 J u n e 2 0 1 6 , t h e p e t i t i o n e r challenges legality, validity and correctness of the same, by way of this petition.

13) HENCE THIS WRIT PETITION

DATE:-13.06.2016 ADVOCATE FOR PETITIONER