Federalism is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution and it applies to the judiciary as well. A High Court in one State cannot exercise powers which, under normal circumstances, can be exercised only by the High Court in another State, the Madras High Court has said, while holding that only the Karnataka High Court can decide a dispute related to removing a Bengaluru medical college from the ambit of a deemed-to-be university in Chennai.
Justice Abdul Quddhose directed the High Court Registry to return a joint writ petition filed by Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute in Chennai and the Raja Rajeswari Medical College and Hospital in Bengaluru challenging an order passed by the Union Ministry of Education on May 24 this year. The Ministry had withdrawn a notification issued on February 14, 2019 declaring that the Bengaluru college would fall within the ambit of the Chennai university.
Since the order under challenge had been passed by the Centre pursuant to a direction issued by the Karnataka High Court on November 30, 2021 to reconsider the grant of the ‘2019 ambit notification’, the present writ petition ought to have been filed only in Karnataka, Justice Quddhose held. He rejected the argument that a part of cause of action had arisen in Chennai due of the location of the university and therefore, the Madras High Court could entertain the case.
“ Forum non conveniens is a common law legal doctrine through which a court acknowledges that another forum or a court where the case might have been brought is a more appropriate venue for a legal case and transfers the case to such a forum... A concern often raised in applications related to the doctrine is forum shopping or picking a court merely to gain advantage in a proceeding... In the case on hand, the appropriate court for deciding the lis (dispute) is the Karnataka High Court,” the judge wrote.
He pointed out that the case also involved public interest since the ‘2019 ambit notification’ was issued by the Centre despite the objection raised by the Government of Karnataka on the ground that permitting the Bengaluru medical college to fall within the ambit of the Chennai university might not be in the interest of students in its State. The Karnataka Government had insisted that the college must continue its affiliation with the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in Karnataka.
The State government had also filed a writ petition before the Karnataka High Court in 2020, challenging the ‘2019 ambit notification’ and a single judge allowed the petition on November 3, 2020. Immediately, a writ appeal was preferred, leading to a Division Bench of that High Court ordering reconsideration of the issuance of the notification. It was following this order that the Centre had in May this year withdrawn its 2019 notification, leading to the present writ petition.
In the meantime, the Bengaluru medical college had admitted three batches of students on the basis of curriculum prescribed by the Chennai-based deemed university, and now there was confusion over whether it should follow the same curriculum or go back to the one followed by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences. Since the case involved the interests of students at large in the neighbouring State, it would be better for the Karnataka High Court to solve the problem, Justice Quddhose added.
“The principle of lis alibi pendens (a dispute pending elsewhere) also applies to the case on hand. It applies to address the problem of potentially contradictory judgments. If two courts were to hear the same dispute, it is possible for them to reach inconsistent decisions. Lis alibi pendens arises from the international comity and it permits a court to refuse exercising jurisdiction when there is a parallel litigation pending in another jurisdiction,” he said.
