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 | UGC does a U-turn, grants clean chit to 34 blacklisted varsities | | published on : 10-12-2014 | | Category : University Grant Commission | | Effecting a controversial U-turn on the 2009 government report that blacklisted 44 deemed universities, a new UGC report has granted a near clean chit to almost 34 of them. A mere 7-8 deemed to be universities have been recommended for blacklisting in a report submitted and discussed today in the meeting of the University Grants Commission.
A committee set up by the UGC under its Vice Chairman H Devaraj has said in its report that only 7-8 deemed varsities of the 44 originally blacklisted are found inadequate on specified standards and accordingly the union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry may serve them a show cause notice before denotification. This report has been accepted by the Commission and is expected to be submitted to the Supreme Court on 30th September, 2014 when the issue comes up for hearing.
This effectively means a further grace period for even these few varsities as their denotification is not immediate and they will have ample opportunity to explain their position. In fact, two deemed varsities have already gone to court complaining that UGC did not follow due process of campus inspection before assessing them through this report- the issue also comes up before court tomorrow.
Among the handful of deemed varsities recommended for blacklisting and unfit for the tag are- Bharath Institute of Higher Education, Chennai, Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Salem, Tamil Nadu, Academy of Maritime Education and Training, Chennai, Tamil Nadu., Maharishi Matkandeshwar University, Ambala, Haryana and Institute of Advanced Studies in Education, Rajasthan.
Janardhan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur, Rajasthan and Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu are also said to be among those proposed to be blacklisted.
The remaining 34 odd varsities placed in the red by the Tandon committee in 2009 have now been as good as let off by the new committee. At best, they will now be subjected again to the usual cycle of yearly reviews for deemed universities in the de novo category and five yearly reviews for the other deemed varsities.
While originally 44 deemed varsities were declared blacklisted by the Tandon committee in 2009, the number came down to 41 as some of them voluntarily surrendered the deemed varsity tag and others went on to become institutes of national importance.
The UGC has accepted this report and will now send it to the Smriti Irani led Union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry that in turn will submit the same to the Supreme Court that is seized of the matter.
Former HRD minister in UPA 2- Kapil Sibal had ordered a review of the 100 plus deemed varsities in the country in 2009 soon after taking charge. A three member committee headed by P N Tandon had said that 44 of the 126 deemed to be universities were deficient on various counts and should be deprived of the deemed university status. However, the blacklisted varsities went to court challenging the Tandon committee report and complaining that due process was not followed and that they were not allowed a hearing.
Stuck in courts since 2009, the issue picked pace again with the court asking UGC to examine the Tandon committee report- a new committee headed by UGC Vice Chairman H Devaraj has now found only 7-8 deemed varsities unfit for the tag. | | Related Keywords : | | university grant nall nall |
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