Punjab & Haryana High Court Pulls Up Haryana Govt For Running Unauthorized B.Ed. Course

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has pulled the Haryana Government for admitting students into the unauthorized 4 years B.A./B.Ed. course at two State Institutes of Advanced Studies in Teacher Education.

The Court was considering a Writ Petition regarding denial of recognition to run 4 years B.A./B.Ed. programme by State Institute of Advanced Studies in Teacher Education.

The Division Bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor observed, "In the facts of the case, 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. 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. We, accordingly, refrain from issuing any direction to cure the unauthorized act of the respondents, at this stage."

The Petitioners were represented by Advocate Shruti Jain Goyal, while the Respondents were represented by Senior Panel Counsel Anil Chawla.

The integrated B.A./B.Ed. course was originally launched at the Prarambh Institute in Jhajjar in 2013 with due approval. Its expansion to Kurukshetra and Gurugram without proper clearance is now being questioned by the Court.

It transpired 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 the grant of permission with retrospective effect, when such courses started.

Counsel for the Petitioners as well as the State of Haryana contended that the State has submitted Applications which were required to have been dealt with as per Regulation 7 of National Council for Teacher Education (Recognition Norms and Procedure) Regulations, 2014, but no shortcoming or deficiency of any kind was pointed out.

It was further contended that since Applications for grant of permission were submitted prior to commencement of the course(s), therefore, it cannot be treated to be a case of regularization nor any permission from a retrospective date would be required.

The Court noted that it is rather unusual for the State to have proceeded to admit students without obtaining any permission from NCTE, which apparently has been writing to the Union Government to make necessary provisions for grant of permission with retrospective effect.

"In such view of the matter, we direct the Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana to conduct an appropriate inquiry and file his creating this unpleased situation. The Chief Secretary will also disclose as to how the State proposes to deal with the guilty Officers and compensate these students", the Court observed.

The matter was accordingly adjourned to November 20, 2025.

Cause Title: Kapil Nath and Others v. Union of India and Others

Click here to read/ download Order