One of my friends had completed his master of arts degree through Karnataka state open university (KSOU) in 2003 through stream-1 of the open university system that existed at that time. His formal education was upto standard 10 and a newspaper ad of KSOU caught his attention and he thought it fit to pursue a masters degree instead of wasting time on intermediate and graduation. Unfortunately, after many years of graduating, he came to know that the particular scheme was not recognised by the UGC which was supposed to be mandatory. He also realised that there are controversies and interpretations surrounding this scheme and degree with contradictory and confusing judgements by various courts, ambiguity of role and jurisdiction of DEC and UGC. The question is: what is the solution to this problem? What is the validity of his degree of post graduation? Does it need to be ratified? What is the legal position with so many contradictory judgements by different courts? Where is natural justice? What about the years that he spent studying and passing that exam, the energy and money? Is it all in the drain because of ambiguity of education laws and judgements? Should he file a case of cheating against the university for not having taken valid permissions from UGC? Or should he file a case against the UGC for deliction of duty and negligance while various universities were offering different schemes?
