Govt defends action against universities

Deemed varsities given time for explanation, Centre tells SC

The Centre defended its decision, in its additional affidavit, and said its high-powered review committee and task force were more concerned with the academic excellence of these universities rather than infrastructural facilities.

A special bench headed by Justice Dalveer Bhandari will take up the matter on Monday when the apex court reopens after a weeklong Holi recess.

“The review committee was concerned, not so much with availability of land, buildings, other infrastructure, institutional finance, but primarily with issues relating to academic and research excellence, innovation, emerging areas of knowledge, postgraduate education, governance structures and an overall milieu conducive to the concept of a university,” the affidavit said.

The government rejected the claims of the aggrieved universities that they were not given any opportunity to present their viewpoints before putting them on the hit list for derecognition. The apex court had earlier restrained the government from derecognising the universities until it decided the dispute.

“The review committee constituted by the government invited all 130 institutions deemed to be universities for presentations and face-to-face discussions. However, 126 institutions attended the presentation sessions.

“Further, it is mentioned that the entire presentation session for each such institution ‘deemed to be university’ has been videographed live. Elaborate and exhaustive questionnaires seeking all relevant information were also sent to these institutions well in advance.

“The committee analysed the information collected from institutions through the questionnaires and that obtained during the presentations and interaction on behalf of the responding institutions, and finally submitted its report,” the Centre said referring to the October 2009 report of the review committee directing derecognition of the 44 varsities.

The HRD Ministry reiterated that universities sought to be derecognised were being run as family fiefdoms, rather than as institutions of academic excellence which they claim to be.