On December 26, the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court rejected a university with its headquarters in Jaipur's request for compensation for the costs associated with its admission of Jammu & Kashmir students under the Prime Minister's Special Scholarship Scheme for J&K Students, including tuition, hostel fees, and book costs. 

The fact that the students are from J&K alone does not constitute grounds for filing a writ petition with the high court, according to Justice M. A. Chowdhary.

The court can use its authority to issue directions, orders, or writs to enforce any of the fundamental rights granted by Part III of the Constitution or for any other purpose if the cause of action, in whole or in part, arose within the territories over which it has jurisdiction, regardless of the location of the government or other authority's seat or the residence of the party that will be the target of the direction, order, or writ.

"It is well settled that the expression "cause of action" means that bundle of facts which the petitioner must prove, if traversed, to entitle him to a judgment in his favour. The cause of action has no relation whatever to the defense which may be set up by the defendant, nor does it depend upon the character of the relief prayed for by the plaintiff. It refers entirely to the ground set forth in the plaint as the cause of action upon which the plaintiff asks the Court to arrive at a conclusion in his favour," it added.

According to the bench, it is impossible to say that the university's claim entirely or partially arose within the J&K court's jurisdiction given the current facts.

"Therefore, without going into the merits of the case, this petition is not worth to be entertained, in the light of the aforementioned settled legal position and 'no cause of action' having arisen within the territorial jurisdiction of this Court. As a result this Writ Petition filed by the petitioner-University is held to be non-maintainable before this Court for lack of jurisdiction," said the court.

The remarks were made by Justice Chowdhary during the course of hearing a request for directions to the Government of India and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi, regarding the sanction of the amount of scholarship including tuition, hostel fee, mess charges, and other incidentals in favour of 271 remaining J&K students for the Session 2014–15 in accordance with the scale prescribed in guidelines of PMSSS. 

In response to the argument, the implementing agency for the Scheme, All India Council for Technical Education, raised a preliminary objection regarding the university's jurisdiction to file the writ petition, arguing that the scholarship is given to the students and not the colleges or universities. 

It further alleged that the university sponsored the lawsuit and that its actions were highly objectionable given that it admitted the students on its own without the respondent's or the appropriate authority's permission, and that after the students had finished their courses, the university had filed the writ petition to obtain the unjust gain.

The Center claimed in its response that students from J&K were required to apply under the programme on the AICTE website, and that only those qualified students who were on the merit list, had been assigned to colleges through centralised counselling, or had enrolled independently in a college or university that had been approved under Section 12 B of the UGC Act, recognised by AICTE, or by another regulatory authority, and whose application had been forwarded by the Government of J&K, were eligible to receive financial aid.

The 271 remaining students, on the other hand, were not deemed eligible for scholarships under the Special Scholarship Scheme for J&K because they were "not in merit," enrolled in courses that were not approved by the AICTE, or for any other reason, according to the Center. As a result, they were no longer eligible to be considered for and receive scholarships under the Scheme.

Case Title : Suresh Gyan Vihar University Vs Union of India & Ors.
Citation: WP(C) No. 3340/2019 CM No. 6692/2019
Link:https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=%2FE3WiyNUWFIaR1oBGE62WqaY9Z9x%2B3YUi1rT%2FhRQkNfPSm%2FR9BrUg4MF9nferi30&caseno=WP(C)/3340/2019&cCode=2&appFlag=