TMI Blog2003 (10) TMI 672X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h respondent is the Professor Head of the Department and Dean in the College of Dental Surgery, Mangalore, belonging to the fourth respondent. 3. Section 3 of the Dentists Act, 1948 (hereinafter referred to short as 'the Act') which is a pre-constitutional enactment was passed to regulate the profession of dentistry and for constituting Dental Council in the Country. 5th respondent was a member of the Council elected by the members of the fourth respondent and was representing in the Dental Council the fourth respondent. In pursuance of an order passed by the Kerala High Court elections were conducted for the Dental Council of India. The elections to the Dental Council was held on 14.07.2003. The fifth respondent contested elections from the constituency under Section 3(c) of the Act and lost the election. Thereafter he was elected from the constituency of Section 3(d) of the Act. It is that election of the fifth respondent as representing fourth respondent is challenged in these Writ Petitions. The petitioners seek a declaration that the Deemed Universities under the UGC Act including the fourth respondent are not entitled to be included as constituencies under Section ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fourth respondent it is necessary to have a look at the provisions of the UGC Act. Section 2(f) of the UGC Act defines University as under: University means a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act, and includes any such institution as may, in consultation with the University concerned, be recognized by the Commission in accordance with the regulations made in this behalf under this Act. (underlining by me). Section 3 of the UGC Act deals with application of Act to institutions for higher studies other than Universities which reads as under: Application of Act to institutions for higher studies other than Universities. - The Central Government may, on the advice of the Commission, declare, by notification in the Official Gazette, that any institution for higher education, other than a University, shall be deemed to be a university for the purposes of this Act, and on such a declaration being made, all the provisions of this Act shall apply to such institution as if it were a university within the meaning of Clause (f) of Section 2 (underlining by me) 8. A reading of the definition of University und ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iversity concerned and in accordance with the regulations to be made in this behalf. Therefore, Section 3 empowers the Central Government on the advise of the Commission to declare by notification in the official Gazette that any institution for higher education, other than a University, shall be deemed to be a University for the purposes of this Act and on such a declaration being made, all the provisions of this Act shall apply to such institution as if it were a university within the meaning of Clause (f) of Section 2 for the purpose of the Act only and not for any other purpose. In this regard it is also necessary to have a look at Section 22 of the UGC Act which reads as under: 22. Right to confer degrees: (1) The right of conferring or granting degree shall be exercised only by a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act or an institution deemed to be a University under Section 3 or an institution specially empowered by an Act of Parliament to confer or grant degrees. (2) Save as provided in Sub-section (1), no person or authority shall confer, or grant, or hold himself or itself out as entitled to confer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rsity in accordance with Section 3 of the Act such an institution is not recognized under the Act itself as a University established by law. 12. It is also in that context it is necessary to see the meaning of the word deemed. In the well-known case of East End Dwellings Co. Limited v. Finsbury Borough Council 1952 AC 109 Lord Asquith while dealing with the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947 observed: If you are bidden to treat an imaginary state of affairs as real, you must surely, unless prohibited from doing so, also imagine as real the consequences and incidents which, if the putative, state of affairs had in fact existed, must inevitably have flowed from or accompanied it. The statute says that you must imagine a certain state of affairs; it does not say that having done so, you must cause or permit your imagination to boggle when it comes to the inevitable corollaries of that state of affairs. The Supreme Court affirming the said position in the case of State of Tamil Nadu v. Arooran Sugars Limited AIR 1997 SC 1815 has held as under: 11. The role of a provision in a statute creating legal fiction is by now well settled. When a statute crea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d dental qualifications; (d) one member from each University established by law in the States which grants a recognized dental qualification, to be elected by the members of the Senate of the University, or in case the University has no Senate, by the members of the Court, from amongst the members of the Dental Faculty of the University or in case the University has no Dental Faculty, from amongst the members of the Medical Faculty thereof; (e) one member to represent each State nominated by the Government of each such State from among persons registered either in a medical register or a dental register of the State. Explanation - In this clause, State does not include a Union territory; (f) six members nominated by the Central Government, of whom at least one shall be a registered dentist possessing a recognized dental qualification and practicing or holding an appointment in an institution for the training of dentists in a Union territory, and at least two shall be dentists registered in Part B of a State register; (g) the Director General of Health Services, ex Officio; Provided that pending the preparation of registers the State Governments may n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssary than to expound those words in their ordinary and natural sense. Where the language of the Act is clear and explicit, we must give effect, to it, whatever may be the consequences, for in that case the words of the statute speak the intention of the legislature. Where the language is plain and admits of but one meaning, the task of interpretation can hardly be said to arise. The decision in a case calls for a full and fair application of particular statutory language to particular facts as found. It is a corollary to the general rule of literal construction that nothing is to be added to or taken from a statute unless there are adequate grounds to justify the inference that the legislature intended something which it omitted to express. A construction which would leave without effect any part of the language of a statute will normally be rejected. 19. In fact, the Supreme Court had an occasion to consider this aspect in the case of Dental Council of India and anr. v. Hari Prakash and ors. (Supra) wherein it was called upon to decide whether All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) which is established by Section 3 of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Act, 1 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uage of the Act. 9. The learned counsel for the respondents referred to a large number of decisions where the meaning of the expression used in an enactment has been given a wider meaning or even to cover a situation which could not have arisen when the law was enacted. But we are afraid, these principles cannot be applied in the present context, for Parliament is well aware of the situation of University, deemed University, and the institutions constituted and empowered under relevant enactments to confer degrees and the Act has been amended from time to time, to suit fresh needs as and when they arose. Thus, the Act has not remained static but is catching up with the times. Therefore, what is not included by the legislature cannot be undone by us by adopting the principle of purposive interpretation. 10. AIIMS is an institution, which is specially empowered by an Act of Parliament to confer or grant degrees. As a result thereof, AIIMS may impart education in dentistry and also confer degrees or diplomas as provided under the AIIMS Act but that circumstance would not itself convert such an institution into a University established by law. If Parliament had intended that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... recognizes the difference. Section 3 of the UGC Act only confers power on the Commission to recognize an institution as a University for the purposes of the Act, that recognition is only as a University and not as a University established by law . Section 22 of the UGC Act maintains a distinction between a University established by law, a deemed University and an institution specially empowered by an Act of Parliament to confer or grant degrees. Section 23 of the UGC Act categorically states that no institutions other than a University established by law shall be entitled to have the word University associated with its name in any manner whatsoever there by meaning a deemed University cannot use the word University in its name. Though the Act is a pre-constitutional enactment it has been amended several times after Constitution came into force. If the Parliament did not choose to amend the law as contained in Section 3(d) of the Act, the Courts cannot adopt the purposive interpretation and attribute a meaning to the phrase University established by law which the legislature did not intend to attribute. When the language used in the Section is not ambiguous and when litera ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... te such institution as a University established by law won't be proper. Probably it is because of this though an institution is conferred with the recognition as a deemed University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, the Parliament in its wisdom thought it fit to introduce Section 23 of the UGC Act making its intent very clear and debarring any institution other than a University established or incorporated by law from using the word University in its name. 22. In the light of the aforesaid discussion, it is clear that the fourth respondent was an Institution which was imparting higher education and had an excellent track record. It was running two dental colleges and two medical colleges and a nursing college. Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 3 of the UGC Act, the Central Government on the advice of the Commission has declared the fourth respondent as a deemed University for the purposes of the UGC Act. The fifth respondent is the Principal of one such college. He has been the Dean of the college of Dental Surgery at Mangalore. He in fact contested for the Council membership from the constituency under Clause 3(c) of the Act. He lost the election. I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... No. 1808/2003 complaining that no elections are conducted to the Dental Council of India after the expiry of the stipulated period and earlier elected persons are continuing without the authority and therefore they had sought for a direction for holding of fresh elections. In those proceedings the Dental Council of India undertook to conduct the elections and that is how the election in dispute was conducted. Therefore, it is not as if the petitioners in these Writ Petitions are total strangers who are unconnected, In that view of the matter, I do not find any substance in any of the contentions urged on behalf of the respondents either as to the maintainability of the Writ Petitions or the locus standi of the petitioners to maintain these Writ Petitions. 26. Therefore, my answer to the question raised above is as under: Though the fourth respondent is a deemed University under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 it does not fall within the phrase University established by law used in Section 3(d) of the Dentists Act, 1948 and therefore they have no right to send their representative in the constituency carved out under Section 3(d) of the Dentists Act ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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