Andhra Pradesh HC Upholds Disaffiliation of Veeravalli College of Law but Defers Effect to 2026-27 to Protect Enrolled Students

Justice Nyapathy Vijay upheld Adikavi Nannaya University's disaffiliation of a Rajahmundry law college on infrastructure grounds but deferred its effect by two academic years to protect students admitted under court orders.

The High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Amaravati, in a batch of six writ petitions spanning 2024 to 2026, has sustained the disaffiliation of Veeravalli College of Law, Rajahmundry, by Adikavi Nannaya University. Justice Nyapathy Vijay, sitting singly, found that the college's physical infrastructure fell well short of the mandatory requirements under the Bar Council of India's Rules of Legal Education, 2008 and the University Grants Commission (Affiliation of Colleges by Universities) Regulations, 2009. However, because students had been admitted during the litigation under successive interim orders of the court itself, the judge modified the disaffiliation orders so that they take effect only from the academic year 2026-27. The college is deemed affiliated for 2024-25 and 2025-26, allowing those students to complete their programmes.

The College, Its Long History with the University, and the Dispute Before the Court

All Saints Christian Education Society, registered under the Societies Registration Act vide Registration No.434/1990 and represented by its Secretary, Sri V. Vidhya Sundhar, established Veeravalli College of Law at Rajahmundry in 1995. The college was first affiliated to Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, and later brought under Adikavi Nannaya University when that university was established in Rajamahendravaram.

From 2019-20 onwards the university shifted to conditional affiliation, requiring the college to abide by rules of the university and the Bar Council of India and APSCHE. Conditional affiliations were extended for 2021-22 and 2022-23. A show cause notice for deficiencies was issued on 24 November 2022; the college replied on 5 December 2022 and then filed W.P.No.1287 of 2023 challenging the university's action. An interim order dated 23 January 2023 permitted the college to participate in counselling, directing it to file an undertaking to remedy deficiencies within three months.

Provisional affiliation was granted for 2023-24 vide proceedings dated 4 March 2024, conditional on rectifying deficiencies by 18 January 2024. A fresh show cause notice followed on 5 August 2024 after an FFCA team physically inspected the college on 30 July 2024. The college replied on 22 August 2024. The university was not satisfied and passed speaking orders on 19 September 2024 disaffiliating the college under the Andhra Pradesh Universities Act, 1991. A second disaffiliation order followed on 20 November 2024 after a court-directed inspection on 14 November 2024 under W.P.No.25226 of 2024 (which was later withdrawn with liberty to re-file). The lead writ petition, W.P.No.28192 of 2024, challenged those two orders.

Subsequent petitions addressed related grievances: the university's exclusion of the college from the ratification list for LLB and LLM admissions for 2024-25 (W.P.No.7921 of 2025); refusal to issue provisional affiliation and to accept examination fees (W.P.No.13858 of 2025); the Bar Council of India's non-inclusion of the college in its approved list for 2025-26 and 2026-27 (W.P.No.29442 of 2025); and two 2026 petitions by individual students denied hall tickets for first and third semester examinations (W.P.Nos.6762 and 7104 of 2026).

The Infrastructure Shortfall: What the Regulations Require and What the College Had

The court identified three regulatory instruments as the controlling framework.

First, the Rules of Legal Education, 2008, framed by the Bar Council of India under the Advocates Act, 1961. Schedule III of those rules requires each Centre of Legal Education to possess freehold or long leasehold land adequate for academic buildings, library, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, and halls of residence. It mandates classrooms capable of accommodating up to 60 students per section, library reading space for at least 25 per cent of enrolled students with internet access, and facilities for indoor and outdoor games.

Second, the UGC (Affiliation of Colleges by Universities) Regulations, 2009, framed under Section 26(1) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. Regulation 1.2 expressly applies these regulations to law colleges. Regulation 3.1.1 requires undisputed ownership or possession of not less than 2 acres in metropolitan cities and 5 acres elsewhere. Regulation 3.1.3 prescribes a minimum of 15 sq.ft. per student in lecture/seminar rooms and the library, and 20 sq.ft. per student in laboratories. Regulation 9 imposes penalties on universities that affiliate colleges not meeting these standards, including withholding of UGC grants and delisting.

Third, the AP Universities Act, 1991, under which the university exercised its power of disaffiliation.

Against these requirements, the court set out the college's actual position. The college occupies a site of 519.6 square yards with a built-up area of 4,762 sq.ft. (3,356 sq.ft. of RCC roofed area and 1,406 sq.ft. of asbestos roofed area, as recorded in the inspection report of 14 November 2024). Its sanctioned intake is 80 students each for the three-year LLB and five-year LLB courses and 40 students for LLM, giving a total sanctioned intake of 720 students. Actual admissions, as per the college's own letter dated 26 March 2025, stood at 528.

The court calculated the minimum academic space required: 720 students multiplied by 15 sq.ft. per student equals 10,800 sq.ft., for faculty rooms, lecture rooms and library alone, before accounting for corridors, lobbies, staircases, parking, canteen, a moot court room and a playground. The available built-up area of 4,762 sq.ft. did not approach even this academic-space minimum.

The November 2024 inspection report had recorded 12 specific deficiencies, among them: original land documents not shown; the site of 519.6 square yards not registered in the name of the society; the required built-up area of 15,000 sq.ft. of RCC roofing not met; only three classrooms each below 600 sq.ft. against a requirement of at least 15 classrooms each of 1,500 sq.ft.; no moot court; structural soundness certificate absent; photos uploaded to the APSCHE-FFCA portal not matching the actual building; and fewer than 30 students present in a college with 720 sanctioned seats.

The court also noted that the college's own explanation dated 22 August 2024 had disclosed that it operated on a shift system — three-year LLB in the morning and five-year LLB and LLM in the afternoon. The court held that “running of the College on a shift system is not recognised under the regulations referred to above.” That admission effectively confirmed the shortfall in classroom space.

On issue (a), whether the disaffiliation orders could be sustained on the basis of the deficiencies, the court answered in the affirmative and upheld the orders in principle.

The Authority Question: Vice-Chancellor's Power and Executive Council Ratification

The petitioners also argued that disaffiliation could only be ordered by the Executive Council under Section 19 of the AP Universities Act, 1991, and that the Vice-Chancellor had no authority to pass the disaffiliation orders. The court addressed this as issue (b).

During the hearing, the university placed on record the proceedings of its 72nd Executive Council meeting held on 12 July 2025, in which the Executive Council ratified the Vice-Chancellor's action. The court held that the ratification answered the petitioners' objection.

The court added, as an independent ground, that setting aside the disaffiliation orders on authority grounds would not benefit the petitioners in any case. The conditional affiliation granted on 19 October 2023 was limited to the academic year 2023-24 and had lapsed by the passage of time. There was accordingly no subsisting affiliation for 2024-25 that could be revived. Issue (b) was answered against the petitioners.

Protecting Students Admitted Under Interim Orders

On issue (c), concerning the students caught in the middle of this protracted litigation, the court took a different view from the university's position. The standing counsel for the university had submitted that the affected students would be accommodated in other colleges of their choice.

The court did not accept that assurance as sufficient. It observed that law colleges are not so widely distributed that all displaced students could realistically be absorbed elsewhere, particularly without exceeding sanctioned strengths of receiving colleges.

Taking into account the likely practical aftermath and the fact that the college had been in operation for a substantial number of years, the court exercised its inherent powers and modified the disaffiliation orders. The disaffiliation of 19 September 2024 and 20 November 2024, upheld on merits, was made effective only from the academic year 2026-27 onwards. The college is deemed to have affiliation for the academic years 2024-25 and 2025-26. Students admitted pursuant to the court's interim orders are entitled to pursue their studies in the college during those two years.

Outcome

Justice Nyapathy Vijay disposed of all six writ petitions — W.P.Nos.28192 of 2024 and 7921, 13858, and 29442 of 2025, and 6762 and 7104 of 2026 — by a common order dated 29 July 2026. The disaffiliation orders of 19 September 2024 and 20 November 2024 are upheld in principle but modified to take effect from the academic year 2026-27. Veeravalli College of Law is deemed affiliated for 2024-25 and 2025-26, and students admitted under interim orders may continue their academics in the college for those years. No order as to costs was made. All pending interlocutory applications stand closed.