‘Students’ future shouldn’t be at stake’: HC directs AICTE to approve college BMS course News Air Insight

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MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to allow a Juhu-based college to conduct its Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) course for the 2025–26 academic year. The court held that the institution’s minor lapses should not put the students’ future at stake

Gavel and law books (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Gavel and law books (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

In 2024, Ritambhara Vishva Vidyapeeth, an educational trust in suburban Juhu, that manages the Malini Kishor Sanghvi College of Commerce and Economics, asked the AICTE if they could initiate a BMS course. In May last year, the AICTE approved the program for the academic year of 2024-2025 and ordered the college to affiliate itself with the Board of Technical Education (BTE) or the Board of Technical Education and Training (BTET).

In 2025, as the college wanted to continue offering the BMS course, it asked the AICTE to extend its approval. The Council responded that the college could get the extension by applying through the National Single Window System (NSWS), an online portal under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The NSWS is a digital platform where a user can apply for approvals according to their business requirements. However, the college had lost its login credentials and retrieved them only in August 2025. When the college then applied for an extension that would allow them to continue the BMS course in the coming academic year, the AICTE refused to let them do so because of the delay in their application.

The college then approached the high court in September, stating that the future of nearly 20 students was at stake. Noting that the college had no bad faith and had complied with all other other norms of the process, a division bench of justices Ravindra Ghuge and Ashwin Bhobe directed the AICTE to accept the approval fees of 3.35 lakh for the extension and grant it accordingly.

The court said, “We disapprove of the manner in which AICTE has dealt with the case, considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case.” The court added that to avoid ruining the career of students, the college should be allowed the extension. The court also directed NSWS to open its portal for the college to comply with the requirements of applying and paying the approval fees.

The court noted the college’s delay in complying with the formalities required to extend its course, and directed the college to pay a penalty of 3.35 lakh bringing the total payable amount to 6.7 lakh.



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