Centre tells SC it has power to de-recognise deemed varsities

Centre tells SC it has power to de-recognise deemed varsities

The Centre has told the Supreme Court that it was well within its power under UGC rules to de-recognise the 44 deemed universities for allegedly failing to maintain requisite quality education.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, appearing before a Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma on Tuesday, said that under the UGC Act, the Commission was empowered to accord the deemed status to universities.

"The power to accord recognition of deemed status included the power to de-recognise them" for failing to meet the standards, he submitted before the Bench.

Later, senior counsel K K Venugopal assailed the Centre's proposal to de-recognise the 44 universities as illegal on the ground that such a power was vested only with UGC.

He questioned the very constitution of the Professor P N Tondon Committee which had recommended de-recognition of the universities. The arguments would resume on Wednesday.

The review committee headed by Professor P N Tondon had earlier recommended derecognition of the 44 institutes across the country on the ground that they had failed to meet the standards required for sustaining the status of a "deemed" university.

According to the universities, Professor Tondon himself was heading a deemed university and it was not appropriate for him to head the high-powered committee which sought de-recognition of the aggrieved universities.

The apex court had earlier directed the Centre to put on the internet the recommendations of the Tondon Committee and the Task Force and asked the aggrieved varsities to file their response on the Centre's decision to de-recognise them.

The Bench had also agreed to examine the validity of the government's decision to de-recognise the varsities as the institutions claimed that under the statutory rules, it was only the UGC which has got the power to strip them of their deemed status. It also agreed to examine the issue whether Prof Tondon could head the committee.

The Union HRD Ministry had denied the allegations of the institutes that they were not given sufficient opportunity to explain their academic performance before deciding to de-recognise them.

Defending its decision, the Centre, in its additional affidavit, had said its high-powered review committee and task force were more concerned with the academic excellence of these universities rather than infrastructural facilities.

The HRD ministry said the universities sought to be de-recognised were being run as family fiefdoms rather than as institutions of academic excellence which they claim to be.