Practice area
Education Matters
Annual approvals, affiliation and compliance for colleges and educational institutions before their regulators and controlling bodies.
The firm acts for colleges, universities, schools and other educational institutions in matters arising from their dealings with their regulators and controlling bodies. A central part of this work is the annual regulatory cycle: applications for the grant, renewal or extension of approval, recognition and affiliation, together with the filings, disclosures and compliances that each academic year requires.
Depending on the institution and the course, the controlling body may be a statutory regulator or council, such as the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), the Bar Council of India (BCI), the National Medical Commission (NMC) or the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI); an affiliating university or a school board; or the State or Union Territory government and its Directorate of Education. We advise institutions on the norms they must satisfy, prepare and review applications and responses, and represent them where an approval is delayed, refused, granted with conditions, or withdrawn.
The firm also acts in the wider range of education disputes that reach the courts, including admissions, fees, examinations and the service matters of teaching and non-teaching staff, before the High Courts and the Supreme Court of India.
What we handle
- Applications for grant, renewal and extension of approval, recognition and affiliation for each academic year, with the supporting documents and disclosures
- Compliance with the norms and regulations of the controlling body, including infrastructure, faculty, intake and accreditation requirements
- Responses to inspection reports, deficiency notices and show-cause notices
- Challenges to refusal or conditional grant of approval, reduction of intake, penalties, and withdrawal of approval or recognition
- Dealings with affiliating universities and school boards, including extension and continuation of affiliation
- Writ petitions and appeals before the High Courts and the Supreme Court of India, including admissions, fees, examinations and staff service matters
Where we appear
The controlling body and its appellate or review forum, where one exists; affiliating universities and boards; the High Courts; the Supreme Court of India.
Our approach
Approvals follow a calendar set by the regulator, and an admission session can depend on a single order. We help institutions plan the annual cycle, make each filing correctly, and keep a record that holds up if an approval is questioned, and we act quickly when a deadline or a notice puts a session at risk. Where a dispute reaches the Supreme Court, our Advocates-on-Record can file there directly.