Admissions to 44 Deemed Universities Allowed: SC

44 deemed universities facing de-recognition got a breather on Thursday as the Supreme Court rejected the government’s plea that they be stopped from going ahead with fresh admissions for the session starting July.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, on behalf of the Union HRD ministry, requested the court to either stop the universities from admitting new students or declare in their prospectus the ongoing case against them in the Supreme Court.

But the court said it couldn’t pass any interim order as the validity of the government-appointed Tandon Committee — which advised de-recognition of the universities for allegedly failing to meet required standards — was “under challenge”.

“The constitution of the committee is itself under challenge, it has to be adjudicated first… It would not be appropriate for us to pass any injunction,” the court said.
Subramanium then urged the court to make the fresh admissions subject to the final outcome of the case.

In the meanwhile, he said, the court could continue to hear objections against the committee. But the court rejected this too.

The universities have alleged that since Tandon himself heads a deemed university, there is a conflict of interest in his appointment as head of the committee. The next nearing in the case is on August 3.

Deemed universities concerned more about revenue

New Delhi: The Government appointed committee to review the functioning of deemed universities said that many private deemed universities are predominantly concerned about revenue generation rather than promoting academic and research activities.

The panel is headed by P N Tandon in its report, has also suggested setting up a national committee for fixing rational fee structure for deemed universities which can be reviewed from time to time. Most of the deemed universities have fee structure considerably higher than that recommended by the official fee structure committees established according to the Supreme Court directives. Many of them created their own fee structure committees to justify the exorbitant fees, according to the report which have been submitted to the apex court.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter tomorrow. The committee has found 44 of the 130 deemed universities to be unfit for the status while another 44 have been found deficient in many areas. It has recommended that the 44 deficient deemed universities should be given three years time to rectify their short comings while the deemed university status should be withdrawn from those found unfit.

"Except a few public-funded institutions, quality research is not done in any of the deemed universities. Research, which is a major component of university, is not being carried out by these institutions," said the report. It also stated that there is not a single example of technology transfer, generation of patents and intellectual property in these institutions. Even though the UGC guidelines speak about holding an all-India entrance test to enroll students, the deemed universities never follow any common entrance examination. They conduct their own entrance which is very often restricted to limited geographical locations or regions.

The committee has recommended that the highest governing body of the deemed universities should be headed by the vice-chancellor and should include distinguished academics and professionals as its members.

Deemed Universities Students Need not to worry : Sibal

No Deemed University Student will suffer

Amid reports of violent protests in some places and widespread anxiety over the government’s move to derecognize 44 deemed universities, HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday sought to allay fears by promising no student would be left in the lurch.
The ministry’s task force has clearly delineated the roadmap for students in these institutions, ensuring that no one suffers, he said.
Meanwhile, students broke window panes, ransacked laboratories and burned furniture in a couple of blacklisted universities in Tamil Nadu, where a majority of the derecognized universities are situated.
Sibal’s assurance notwithstanding, many questions linger. For instance, the HRD ministry’s affidavit in the Supreme Court clearly states that even if the institutions concerned lose deemed university status, they remain colleges and will be affiliated to state universities. In case of
medical/dental colleges, they will seek affiliation from state medical universities.
Asked what if state governments refused to give affiliation, sources said the ministry would seek a relevant directive from the Supreme Court. ‘‘There are other methods also,’’ a source said.
Another question is what will happen to institutions that got deemed status by virtue of starting courses in new fields like nanotech. It seems students who enrolled for these niche disciplines can at best hope to pass out as regular graduates.
The HRD ministry is confident it has a foolproof case in the apex court. Highly placed sources said the 44 deemed universities should not hope that a clean chit by UGC's review committee (separate from the HRD ministry’s panel) can help them challenge the recommendation seeking removal of ‘deemed’ status.

Sources said under the UGC Act, the HRD ministry may or may not accept UGC’s recommendations.

‘‘Anyway, UGC had reviewed only a few parameters of these institutions whereas the HRD sministry’s review committee looked into the complete picture. It cannot be challenged,’’ a highly placed source said.

The degrees of those enrolled with ‘‘deemed universities’’ now staring at de-recognition will be of the institutions they may get attached to in future. ‘‘Students will eventually get the degree from the new university,’’ a source maintained.
Those who have already passed out from the "universities" in question need not worry.

‘‘They will not be affected because the deemed status was not taken away then,’’ sources said.

But the ministry is keen that the institutions are not able to give back-dated certificates. Sources said the ministry had anticipated such a possibility and, therefore, the review committee’s questionnaire had asked each institute to furnish details of past and present students. ‘‘Back-dated degrees cannot be given now,’’ a source said.

Meanwhile, HRD ministry is waiting for the next hearing in Supreme Court on January 25 before it starts issuing notices to these 44 deemed universities.

Govt to derecognise 44 Deemed Universities

Deemed Universities in India

The human resource development ministry under, Mr Kapil Sibal, in a virtual rebuff to his predecessor, Mr Arjun Singh’s policy of conferring “deemed university” status to 126 institutions, submitted in the Supreme Court that only 36 institutions were fully qualified to be upgraded.

Here’s the list of universities,

1. Academy of Maritime Education and Training, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
2. Bharath Institute of Higher Education
3. BLDE University, Bijapur, Karnataka
4. Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Padur, Tamil Nadu
5. Christ College, Bangalore, Karnataka
6. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra
7. Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
8. Graphic Era University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
9. Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Hardwar, Uttarakhand
10.HIHT University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
11.Inst. of Advanced Studies in Education of Gandhi Vidya Mandir,Sardarshahr, Rajasthan
12.Jain University, Bangalore, Karnataka
13.Janardhan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur, Rajasthan
14.Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, Uttar Pradesh
15.Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu
16.Karpagam Academy of Higher Educatioin, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
17.Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Satara, Maharashtra
18.Lingaya’s University, Faridabad, Haryana
19.Maharishi Matkandeshwar University, Ambala, Haryana
20.Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad, Haryana
21.Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
22.Mody Institute of Technology and Science, Sikar, Rajasthan
23.National Museum Institute of the History of Art, Conservation and Museology, Delhi
24.Nava Nalanda, Nalanda, Bihar
25.Nehru Gram Bharati Vishwavidyalaya, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
26.Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu
27.Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
28.Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
29.Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur, Tamilnadu
30.Santosh University, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
31.Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
32.Shobit Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
33.Siksha Anusandhan, Bhubaneswar, Orissa
34.Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Puducherry
35.Sri Devraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, Kolar, Karnataka
36.Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher education, Tumkur, Karnataka
37.St Peter’s Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
38.Sumandeep Vidyapeeth, Vadodara, Gujarat
39.Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, Maharashtra
40.Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr Sagunthala R&
41.Vel’s Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced studies(VISTAS), Chennai,Tamil Nadu
42.Vignan’s Foundation for Science Technology and Research, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
43.Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation, Salem, Tamil Nadu
44.Yenepoya University, Mangalore, Karnataka

Trying to get legal sanction to Mr Sibal’s action of revoking the deemed university status to those institutions, which had “abysmal” infrastructure facilities, the government counsel stated that such institutions were not eligible to be elevated to the level of university in any manner.

The government counsel told Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Patnaik that while approving the grant of deemed university status to only 36 institutions, 44 others had been put on “watch list” for three years to see whether they improve their standard, infrastructure and teaching facilities.

But the deemed university status of 44 other institutions had been “derecognised” as they did not qualify for elevation by any standard.

Universities run by some of the top guns in Tamil Nadu, such as Union minister S. Jagathrakshakan, AIADMK Lok Sabha member M. Thambidurai and the Dravida Kazhagam leader K. Veeramani have been recommended for withdrawal of the “deemed university” status by the Union HRD ministry, as the state earned the dubious distinction of earning the “highest score” of 16 of its varsities in the national ‘black-list’ of 44.