In a huge relief to the beleaguered Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to issue an order within two weeks granting recognition to KSOU to start non-technical in-house courses for the academic year 2017-18.
Observing that the UGC’s act of not responding to KSOU’s plea for grant of recognition was discriminatory in nature, the court said that statutory institutions like the UGC should act in “a fair manner and in accordance with the object and the purpose” for which it has been created.
Justice B.V. Nagarathna passed the order while allowing a petition filed by KSOU in October this year, complaining that the UGC had failed to act on its pleas submitted in December 2016 and February 2017, respectively, seeking grant of recognition to start non-technical courses for 2017-18 by making in-house admissions only without any academic collaboration with private institutions.
Noticing that the UGC did not communicate its decision on KSOU’s pleas, the court also said that the UGC, despite opportunities given by the court to consider the pleas for grant of recognition only for specific types of courses, did not apply its mind properly.
Observing that the order, passed by the UGC on December 11, 2017, based on court’s direction, was neither a speaking order nor conveyed anything, the court found no basis in UGC’s decision to deny recognition stating that it cannot grant “ex post facto recognition” to KSOU as the academic year was nearing closure.
Noticing from the documents produced before it that the UGC, during the academic year 2015-16, granted recognition to over 100 universities and institutions between June 2015 and up to May 2016, which are nothing but “ex post facto recognitions”, the court held that denial of recognition to KSOU on the ground of “ex post facto” is discriminatory when the KSOU has not made any admission for the academic year 2016-17.
The UGC had withdrawn recognition to KSOU in 2015 with retrospective effect from 2013-14 academic year on the alleged illegalities and irregularities levelled against the university that were related to admissions through Academic Collaborative System with private institutions.
