HC warns Tumkur varsity of criminal proceedings

Making it clear that by enrolling students to a course which did not have the mandatory recognition from the National Council for Teacher Training, a division Bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice N S Bopanna said that by doing so the university was cheating prospective students and their parents.

In this context, the Bench warned the Tumkur University registrar, vice-chancellor and the higher education secretary that criminal proceedings could be initiated against them if the authorities concerned did not desist from admitting students to an unrecognised course.

While hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) questioning the university for increasing the admission itake for as many as seven post-graduate courses, including Commerce, Kannada and History, the Bench directed the authorities to hold a meeting of officials who could then recommend solutions to the problems before submitting their report to the court during the next hearing.

The petition, while noting that the university had caused embarrassment to several pre-university students in the last academic year after it increased the intake number for the courses, submitted it was not proper on the part of the authorities to hike the intake seats for post-graduate courses this year.

The petitioner’s lawyer argued that not only was the university creating problems for the additional students who wanted to take the courses, but they would also cause hardship to those seeking admission in accordance with the rules. The petition pointed out that as per regulation, only 34 students can be admitted to each of the courses.