HC says no to Rizvi engg college

Apart from the doubt over the land title, the AICTE experts committee also stated in their five-page report that the campus area is inadequate for housing all the facilities of the engineering college and it also lacked the proper infrastructural support.

The Express Newsline had reported in December last year that the Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi, had given a special clearance to the Rizvi college in spite of the fact that the University of Mumbai and State Department of Higher and Technical Education had categorically refused to grant the permission.

Based on the reports published by this newspaper on the issue, the Forum For Fairness In Education had filed a writ petition in the high court in February this year. A forum activist, Prof Jeetendra Shah, said: “Another story of politicians playing havoc with regulating bodies of the state has been exposed with this case.”

Advocate Dr D Y Chandrachud, who represented the forum along with Bharat Mehta in the court, said: “This case was hotly contested in March this year; but Monday’s court order has nullified chief minister’s clearance last year.” While Rui Rodgrigues represented the University of Mumbai, advocate M Bhatt represented AICTE and Arif Bookwalla contested the case for the Rizvi Education Trust.