The Supreme Court on Friday, 3 November, restrained all deemed universities across the country from continuing any distance learning courses from the 2018-19 without prior approval of the regulatory authorities and ordered a CBI probe into granting of retrospective approvals to four of them.
The top court also directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to restrain such institutions from using the word 'University' within one month from Friday, observing that commercialisation of education "seriously affects credibility of standards in education, eroding power and essence of knowledge and seriously affecting excellence and merit".
A bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and UU Lalit directed a CBI inquiry against the conduct of UGC officials who had granted ex-post facto approvals to the four deemed universities against the policy and into the conduct of these institutions which had abused their position to advance their commercial interests.
Setback For Students in 4 Deemed Universities
It said that unless off-campus centres or study centres were individually inspected and found adequate by the statutory authorities, no course-specific approvals should be granted for distance learning courses.
The apex court directed that degrees of students who have pursued engineering in academic session 2001-05 from four deemed universities – JRN Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Institute of Advanced Studies in Education (IASE), Rajasthan, Allahabad Agricultural Institute (AAI) and Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation, Tamil Nadu – will remain suspended.
The top court directed the AICTE to hold tests for the students whose degrees would stand suspended by 15 January, 2018 and said these students should not be given more than two chances to clear the examination. If the students do not successfully clear the examination within the stipulated time, their degrees will stand cancelled and every single advantage on the basis of that degree shall also stand withdrawn, it said.
SC Bench Raps UGC
The bench said the present case, in which the four universities were granted ex-post facto approval without any proper inspection of necessary infrastructure and faculties, showed “the extent of commercialisation of education” by some of the deemed universities.
"The present case further displays lack of effective oversight and regulatory mechanism for the Deemed to be Universities. The UGC had completely failed to remedy the situation. Serious question has therefore arisen as to the manning of the UGC itself for its effective working," it said.
The verdict came on a batch of appeals challenging the orders of the High Courts of Orissa and Punjab and Haryana by which the former held the degrees in engineering obtained by serving diploma holders through distance learning mode offered by certain deemed universities to be valid, whereas the latter termed such degrees to be invalid.
Punjab and Haryana HC’s Ruling
The 2015 ruling of the Punjab and Haryana high court said that a computer science degree obtained through distance learning cannot be treated at par with the one procured through the regular mode.
"A candidate who has not acquired knowledge by attending regular classes cannot be said to be at par with the candidate who has attended classes through regular mode. The degree may be same, but the process of acquisition of degree is different," the Punjab and Haryana high court had held in 2015.
While ruling this, the court upheld the decision of the Haryana Staff Selection Commission, which, while reviewing applications for the post of for post-graduate teachers (PGTs), rejected candidates who had a Master of Computer Applications (MCA) or MSc (computer science) through distance learning.
The court was hearing petitions that had challenged the commission’s criteria for the post, saying that they were qualified for it and deeming the commission’s decision arbitrary, The Times of India had reported. The court, however, rejected their petitions and upheld the commission’s decision.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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