Centre to review decision on 44 deemed varsities

Updated on: Wednesday, January 12, 2011

44 deemed universities under a cloud for lacking appropriate academic infrastructure standards received a shot in the arm with the Centre assuring the Supreme Court that it would have a re-look on the decision to derecognise them.

Attorney General G E Vahanvati gave the undertaking to a bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma that the government would reconsider its earlier decision and send fresh individual notices, grant personal hearing and opportunity to make further representation.

He said wherever, necessary the Government would conduct physical verification of the universities.

The apex court while recording the Attorney General's submission granted the government two weeks to issue the notice, two weeks thereafter to the aggrieved varsities to file their replies.

It asked the Government to pass individual orders on the replies sent by the universities and place a comprehensive report before the bench by April 23 and posted the matter for further hearing to May 3.

In the meantime, the bench said its earlier status quo order restraining the government from taking any action against the universities would continue till further directions.

The court said its "paramount concern at the moment was future of the students" who would be affected in the event of the varsities being stripped of their deemed status.

The bench during the earlier hearing asked various state governments as to whether they would grant affiliation to these universities in case the Centre derecognises them.

The court's order had followed the Centre's move to derecognise the universities on the basis of Tandon Committee report, which had recommended stripping some of them of their deemed tag on the ground that they had emerged as "personal fiefdoms" of their promoters and had turned out to be pure commercial ventures of their managements.

It had passed the status-quo order in January last year restraining the Centre from withdrawing deemed status until it decides on a batch of petitions by aggrieved
managements challenging the Centre's move as "arbitrary and illegal".

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

Centre to review decision on 44 deemed varsities

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