Played With Student's Career: P&H High Court Raps Haryana Officers For Allowing Admission In Unauthorised Course, Directs Inquiry

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has strongly criticized the Haryana Government for admitting students to a four-year B.A./B.Ed. programme at two State Institutes of Advanced Studies in Teacher Education (SIASTE) without mandatory approval from the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor said, "we find it to be a prima facie case of dereliction of duty on the part of the responsible Officers of the State of Haryana, who have allowed an unauthorized degree course to commence and have also played with the career of hundreds of students."

The Court added that, this is a case in which the Court will have to appropriately determine the responsibility of those who have created this undesirable situation and determine the manner in which the students would have to be compensated.

The Union Government submitted that the State Government's July 11, 2020 application to NCTE was “hardly an application,” as it lacked key institutional details and merely promised to provide them later. Despite the absence of permission, students were admitted to both centres.

"It transpires that even without securing due permission from NCTE, the State of Haryana has proceeded to admit students at the two new institutions at Kurukshetra and Gurugram. The subsequent applications of the State have not been accorded consideration as according to NCTE there is no provision for grant of permission with retrospective effect, when such courses started," the bench found.

Hence, the Court directed the Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana to conduct an appropriate inquiry and file his personal affidavit clearly indicating as to who are the persons responsible for creating this unpleased situation.

While listing the case for November 20, the Court said, "The Chief Secretary will also disclose as to how the State proposes to deal with the guilty Officers and compensate these students."

Ms. Shruti Jain Goyal, Advocate with Mr. Kanwal Goyal, Advocate and Ms. Sheena Dahiya, Advocate for the petitioners (in all cases).

Mr. Anil Chawla, Senior Panel Counsel for respondent No.1-UOI in CWP-26047-2025.

Mr. Himanshu Malik, Senior Panel Counsel for the respondent(s)-Union of India in CWP-28151-2025 and CWP-28872-2025.

Mr. Saurabh Mohunta, DAG, Haryana.

Mr. Karan S. Gill, Standing Counsel for respondents No.2 and 3-NCTE (in all cases).

Title: KAPIL NATH AND OTHERS v. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS

Click here to read order