Tamil Nadu: High Court Rejects Act Banning New Private Law Colleges

The Madras High Court declared an act of Tamil Nadu government which was passed in 2014 that prohibited the establishment of new private law colleges as invalid. The court received a bunch of petitions against the act. After hearing the petitions, the court clarified that the act is illegal and ultra vires the Constitution.

The court referred to a judgement given by Supreme Court in the TMA Pai Foundation case which states that there is a difference between restriction, regulation and absolute ban. Hence, the act passed by Tamil Nadu government regarding law colleges has been declared invalid as it ultra vires the Constitution specifically Article 19(1)(g). The court clarified that there would not be any ban on the establishment of private educational institutions.

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The court ordered the state government to pay Rs. 20,000 to Vanniar Educational Trust as the government rejected the application of trust for setting up new law college in Tindivanam in 2015. Dr. BR Ambedkar Law University too rejected the application submitted by the trust for affiliation in 2015. So, the court found fault with the policy of university which violated the provisions of Constitution.

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The court further explained that the responsibility of the university to deal with the matters relating to Affiliation and Approval of Law Colleges as per Revised Regulations 2013. The university does not have any authority to reject the application for establishing a new college.

Finally, the court ordered the university to look into the matter and process the petitioner’s case for affiliation as per Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University Affiliation and Approval of Law Colleges Revised Regulations, 2013, within four weeks from receipt of the order.