The Supreme Court on Friday granted time till September 30 to the University Grants Commission for submission of assessment/recommendations to the Union government with respect to 41 deemed universities, which were sought to be de-recognised based of the Tandon committee report.
A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Vikramajit Sen extended the time on an application from UGC seeking extension of time for submission of the report.
On January 9, the court had asked the UGC to consider in two months the case of 44 deemed universities afresh after giving them an opportunity of hearing. Subsequently, out of 44 DUs, one got the status of institution of excellence and two surrendered the DU status.
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On May 5, time was given till July 31 to complete the process after UGC said as per fresh guidelines framed in 2010, review of DU status was provided every five years and that it wanted to undertake the exercise of review of the institutions.
In the present application, the UGC said a committee which was constituted had issued notices to the 41 DUs to make a presentation on the infrastructure and other facilities available. Accordingly hearing of all the 41 DUs was completed and the UGC was in the process of finalising the report/recommendations. At its 502nd meeting on July 22 the UGC was informed that it would take time for submission of report and it was decided to seek extension of time till September 30.
Acting on a petition filed by advocate Viplav Sharma, the Centre during the course of hearing, appointed the Tandon committee, which classified the 122 DUs into three categories and 44 DUs which fell in the third category were sought to be de-recognised on the ground that they did not have the required infrastructure and that they had become ‘teaching shops’. It recommended de-recognition of 44 DUs.
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