The University Grants Commission (UGC) has sought comments from the Vice Chancellor, Calicut University, and the State Higher Education Council over the alleged violation of guidelines in the running of a one-year LLM course.
This follows a representation filed by K. Sasikala, a lawyer from Mavoor in Kozhikode district, who alleged that the Department of Law at the university had violated the mandatory provisions of the UGC’s directives issued in 2012 for the introduction of the programme.
Ms. Sasikala, who had enrolled for the course, pointed out that earlier the LLM course was of two-year duration, and the one-year course was launched in the self-financing stream last year. Students were upset about the quality of teaching, unavailability of sufficient infrastructure, and insufficient classroom teaching hours in the first semester itself, she said.
Ms. Sasikala also claimed that only some students were barred from appearing for the internal exams for want of attendance without holding the mandatory hours of classroom sessions. She said this step had been questioned in the Kerala High Court through a petition. She also pointed out that the rules framed by the university in 2017 for the running of the course too had violated UGC guidelines. The court is learnt to have sought a reply from the Vice Chancellor, Registrar, head of the Department of Law, and the UGC. Meanwhile, the university scrapped the one-year programme from this academic year and reverted to the two-year programme.
M.K. Jayaraj, Vice Chancellor, told The Hindu on Wednesday that he was yet to see the mail from the UGC. He said he would examine the issue and act accordingly.
