Tuesday, January 19, 2010
A Union Government affidavit in the Supreme Court has caught the colleges unawares

Bangalore: At least six leading academic institutions in the State will be divested of their “deemed-to-be” university status, according to an affidavit submitted by the Union Government to the Supreme Court on Monday.

When contacted, most of these colleges denied having received any information on the matter. However, the announcement had caught them unawares. The fact that the affidavit accuses the institutions of “running as family fiefdoms, rather than institutes of academic excellence”, disproportionate intake and offering dubious courses, was also met with an uneasy silence. Across 13 States, 44 institutions have been put on this list. However, in the interest of students studying in various disciplines here, the affidavit maintains that these “universities” can now revert to their erstwhile affiliated college model under the old universities.

Karnataka colleges reportedly on this list are Christ College, Bangalore; Sri Devraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, Kolar,; Yenepoya University, Mangalore; BLDE University, Bijapur; Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education, Tumkur; and Jain University, Bangalore.
Alex Joseph, associate PRO of Christ University, said that the college was yet to receive any official word. In fact, he said that the UGC review committee had visited them in September.

“Their report was positive. The only suggestion they made was to improve research.”

Welcoming the decision, former Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor M.S. Thimmappa says that some level or regulation was necessary as colleges had been randomly accorded deemed status in the past five years. “However, it is distressing to see that some of these institutes indeed have a flawless track record. Why discourage the well-run colleges?” he asks.
This announcement came in the course of a 2006 lawsuit against the practice of deemed universities in response to which the apex court had sought an affidavit. The tone of the affidavit is in line with recommendations of the Yash Pal Committee, which had pointedly stated that deemed university system must be scrapped. It may also be recalled that after several media reports on irregularities and rampant profiteering in several leading institutions, the then Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had ordered an enquiry into the matter, and even made it part of his “100-day agenda” for the education sector.