(Prayer: This Writ Petition is filed under Articles 226 & 227 of the Constitution of India, praying to i) issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, quashing the impugned order dated 22/01/2026 issued by the 1st Respondent - University, Annexure-J insofar as it imposes a penalty of Rs.75,00,000/- and other extraneous conditions, as being arbitrary, illegal and without authority of law and ii) direct the respondents to permit Petitioner Nos.2 to 10 to appear in all examinations scheduled from 18/02/2026 onwards, to announce their results, and to allow them to continue the BAMS Course without interruption, in accordance with law by issuing formal letter of approval of admissions and iii) pass such other order or orders.)

Oral Order

Jayant Banerji, J.

1. Heard Sri.Abhishek Malipatil, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri.Girish Kumar. R, learned counsel appearing for respondent No.1 and Sri.N.K.Ramesh, learned counsel appearing for the Karnataka Examination Authority ('KEA' for short).

2. This petition has been filed seeking the following reliefs:

          "i. Issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, quashing the impugned order dated 22.01.2026 issued by the 1st Respondent-University, Annexure-J insofar as it imposes a penalty of Rs.75,00,000/- and other extraneous conditions, as being arbitrary, illegal and without authority of law; and

          ii. Direct the Respondents to permit Petitioners No.2 to 10 to appear in all examinations scheduled from 18.02.2026 onwards, to announce their results, and to allow them to continue the BAMS course without interruption, in accordance with law by issuing formal letter of approval of admissions; and

          iii. Pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit in the interests of justice, equity and good conscience."

3. As far as the prayer No. 1 is concerned, learned counsel for the respondent No.1 has fairly stated that the order dated 01.09.2025 of the Division Bench of this Court in W.P.No.18100/2024, insofar as it directed imposition of cost of Rs.75,00,000/- (Rupees Seventy Five Lakhs only) has been stayed by the Supreme Court by means of an order dated 18.12.2025, passed in Special Leave Petition (Civil) Diary No.70675/2025 and therefore, payment of the cost would be subject to the outcome of the aforesaid petition before the Supreme Court. The petitioner No.1 shall abide by the decision of the Supreme Court in this regard. As far as the imposition of cost of Rs.75,00,000/- is concerned, admittedly, petitioner Nos.2 to 10 have got nothing to do with the same. It is only the petitioner No.1- Institution who would be saddled with the liability of paying the amount should the petition pending before the Supreme Court fail.

4. Insofar as prayer No.2 is concerned, it is on record that the petitioners had filed writ petition No.14484/2023, seeking to challenge an order passed by the respondent-University dated 23.05.2023, inter-alia to accord admission to the petitioner Nos.1 to 10 therein. The writ petition came to be disposed of, with a direction to the respondent-University to extend similar benefits given to petitioner-students in the aforesaid W.P.No.18100/2024 and connected matters without any further delay, announce the results and permit the students to continue in accordance with law. The petitioner Nos.2 to 10 had obtained admission in the petitioner No.1-Institution. The procedure adopted for admission was objected to by the University, which was subject matter of challenge in W.P.No.14484/2023. Petitioner Nos.2 to 10 were permitted to continue as students, which was subject to the final order passed in the writ petition. This fact is not disputed by the learned counsel for the respondents.

5. Pursuant to the Judgment dated 24.09.2025 passed in the aforesaid W.P.No.14484/2023, the petitioners were permitted to appear in the examinations and they are now in the second year.

6. Respondent No.1 issued a letter dated 18.10.2025 to the Registrar (Evaluation) of the respondent No.1-University, on the subject of announcement of results and permission for 10 students shown in the letter to appear for ensuing BAMS examination at the petitioner No.1-Institution for the year 2022-2023. A direction was issued to the Registrar (Evaluation), to announce the results of the specified 10 students and to permit them to appear for the ensuing BAMS examination admitted for the year 2022-2023.

7. It is noted that though the names of 10 students were mentioned in the letter, only 9 of the candidates have filed this petition. One candidate, Mehdi Hasan, whose name appears at Sl.No.3 in the list of students of the aforesaid letter dated 18.10.2025 has chosen not to file this writ petition, as he has discontinued the Course, as per the submission of learned counsel for the petitioners.

8. Under these circumstances, the petitioners are aggrieved by the impugned order dated 22.01.2026, to the extent of its directing submission of list of all the illegally admitted students for the academic year 2022- 2023, to the KEA and in turn, the KEA must send the list of eligible students to the respondent No.1-University.

9. As far as the direction regarding submission of list of eligible students to the University by the KEA, after submission of the list of students admitted illegally for the academic year 2022-2023 by the petitioner No.1- institution, there cannot be any cavil to the fact that the proper procedure regarding counselling and the aspect of eligibility is to be assessed by the KEA. It is the KEA that is vested with the powers to undertake such an exercise in accordance with the National Commission for Indian System of Medicines (Minimum Standards of Undergraduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2022. Moreover, in the aforesaid letter of 18.10.2025, by which the petitioners-students were permitted to appear for the ensuing BAMS examination admitted for the year 2022- 2023, it is mentioned in that letter as follows:

          "Note: Announcement of results and Permitting the students to appear for the Next/Future Examination are subject to the approval of admission of the above students on the compliance of conditions imposed in the W.P.No.18100/2024 by this College."

10. Therefore, there is no dispute that the respondent No.1-University had directed that the condition imposed by this Court in the aforesaid W.P.No.18100/2024 is required to be complied with, that is to say, the eligibility of the candidates has to be duly assessed prior to granting approval of their admission by the concerned Authorities.

11. Sri.N.K.Ramesh, learned counsel for the KEA in his usual fairness has stated that the KEA will take a decision as to the eligibility of petitioner Nos.2 to 10, subject to the petitioner No.1 furnishing the details along with the eligibility credentials of the students.

12. In view of the aforesaid, we direct that the petitioner No.1-Institution shall furnish the eligibility credentials along with all relevant documents to the KEA in respect of petitioner Nos.2 to 10 within a week from today that is to say on or before the closure of office hours on 24.02.2026. Thereafter, the KEA will take a decision on the eligibility of the petitioner Nos.2 to 10 on or before 27.02.2026, and the same shall be communicated/ uploaded on KEA website as per the procedure prescribed.

13. It is made clear that the KEA will consider the eligibility of petitioner Nos.2 to 10 only when all the petitioners give an unequivocal and unconditional undertaking before the KEA by means of their respective affidavits, stating that the decision of the KEA shall be binding on them and they will accept the same. This is being done in view of the fact that petitioner Nos.2 to 10 who were illegally admitted, have been permitted to continue in the course only under interim orders of this Court passed in previous writ petitions and have been permitted to appear in examinations only by the orders of this Court. Such a state of affairs cannot be permitted to continue indefinitely. This undertaking shall be furnished within 24 hours.

14. The respondent No.1-University shall declare the result of those students whose eligibility has been cleared by the KEA.

15. Under the facts and circumstances, we permit petitioner Nos.2 to 10 to appear in the examinations that are stated to be held from tomorrow i.e., 18.02.2026 till 16.03.2026. It is made clear that if the aforesaid undertaking is not furnished by the petitioner Nos.2 to 10 within 24 hours, they shall not be permitted to appear in the forthcoming examinations which are commencing from tomorrow. The counsel for the respondent - University is required to communicate this order to the University as soon as possible.

16. With the aforesaid observations, this petition stands disposed of.