SC seeks states' stand on affiliation of 44 deemed varsities

SC seeks states' stand on affiliation of 44 deemed varsities

The Supreme Court has sought to know from various states if they would like to grant affiliation to 44 deemed universities in case the Centre derecognises them.

A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma on Tuesday issued notices to the state, asking them to file their response by 11^th January next year.

The apex court's directions follows the Tandon Committee's recommendations seeking derecognition of 44 deemed universities on the ground that they have emerged as personal fiefdom of their promoters and have turned out to be pure commercial ventures of their management.

The apex court had earlier passed the status quo order in January this year restraining the Centre from stripping these 44 deemed universities of their prestigious 'deemed university' tag until it decides a batch of petitions by the aggrieved managements challenging the Centre's move as arbitrary and illegal.

The Centre, while proposing derecognition of these universities, had earlier assured the apex court that it would protect the interest of the two lakh odd students who would be affected by the derecognition move.

Various deemed universities, which faced the Centre's threat of derecognition, had moved the apex court within days after the government decided to strip them of their prestigious 'deemed univ' status on various counts including treating them as teaching shops.

On pleas by the affected universities, the apex court had on 25^th January restrained the Centre from divesting them of the deemed status for their academic under-performance.

The court had passed the status quo order despite the Government's assurance that no punitive action would be taken against these institutions without the court's consent.

The apex court had passed the status quo order saying that the issue did not only involve only the institutions but also the future of over two lakh students.

While seeking affected universities' stands on the Government's move to derecognise them, the court had also asked for the reports of the Review Committee and the Task Force on the basis of which the Human Resource Development Ministry had decided to crack the whip on the 44 universities.

It had also asked for the University Grant Commission's report on the basis of which the ministry had accorded deemed status to these institutions.

The court had also agreed to examine the legality of the government's decision to derecognise the varsities as the institutions claimed that under the statutory rules, it is only the UGC which has got the power to strip them of their deemed status.