No mercy for students of unrecognised institutions: SC

Students taking admission in educational institutions without verifying whether they are recognised or not are to be blamed themselves, the Supreme Court has said, refusing to sympathise with them.

A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra refused to grant recognition to a Madhya Pradesh-based institute and turned down its plea to sympathise with students as they would suffer if recognition is not granted.

"The students who take admission are not young in age. They are graduates. They are expected to enquire whether the institution has recognition and affiliation. If we allow ourselves to say so, the institution had given admission in a nonchalant manner. Possibly, its functionaries harboured the idea that they had incomparable fertile mind. The students who had taken admission possibly immersed with the idea that ignorance is a bliss," the bench said.

The institution that is engaged in imparting a course has to obey the command of law in letter and spirit and there should not be any deviation, it said.

"But, unfortunately, some of the institutions flagrantly violate the norms with audacity and seek indulgence of the court either in the name of mercy or sympathy for the students or financial constraint of the institution or they have been inappropriately treated by the statutory regulatory bodies," the bench said.

It set aside the Madhya Pradesh High Court which had directed that the students of Diploma in Elementary Education who have been admitted for the academic session 2010-11 should be allowed to undertake the examinations.

"It is also necessary to state that the institution had the anxious enthusiasm to commercialise education and earn money forgetting the factum that such an attitude leads to a disaster. The students exhibited tremendous anxiety to get a degree without bothering for a moment whether their effort, if any, had the sanctity of law. Such attitudes only bring nemesis," the judgement, written by Justice Misra, said.

According to the bench, the apex court has ruled in many cases that without recognition from the NCTE and affiliation from the university or examining body, the educational institution cannot admit the students.

"The basic motto should have been transparency. Unfortunately, the institution betrayed the trust of students and the students, in a way, atrophied their intelligence. The institution decidedly exhibited characteristics of carelessness. It seems that they had forgotten that they are accountable to law.

"The students, while thinking vision of hope, chose to play possum. The law does not countenance either of the ideas. Hence, the plea propounded with anxiety, vehemence and desperation on behalf of the appellant is not acceptable and, accordingly we unhesitatingly repel the same," the bench said.