SC asks Allahabad HC to hear PIL against AMU

New Delhi, Feb 17 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has askedthe Allahabad High Court to hear a PIL seeking to restrainAligarh Muslim University from establishing campuses in otherparts of the country.

A bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnayak setaside the order of the High Court in which it had refused toentertain the PIL filed by a former President of studentsunion of the University on the ground that he had no locus inthe case.

"We set aside the order of the High Court and restore thepublic interest litigation to the file of the High Courtwithout expressing any opinion on the merits of the case," thebench said.

The apex court passed the order on a appeal by the formerstudents union President Zafruddin Khan who had pleaded thatwith the opening up of proposed new campus in Kerala thequality of education would deteriorate.

The court said the High Court should not have dismissedthe petition without going into the merit of thecase and asked it decide the PIL on merit.

"We are of the view that having regard to the fact thatthe appellant was a former student and an elected member ofthe AMU Court and is also a Donor Life Member, he hassufficient interest to file the writ petition in publicinterest. The High Court ought not to have dismissed thepublic interest litigation only on the ground of locus standiof appellant to file the writ petition," the court said.

The High Court had on October 7 last year dismissedthe PIL saying Khan did not not have any locus standi to filesuch a public interest litigation and only a member of theUniversity Senate or University Academic Council or UniversityCourt could file a writ petition.

The court was of the view that the PIL cannot beentertained as the the fundamental rights of Khan were notaffected by the proposed action of the University.