MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (e) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 258 FOR 10.12.2014 ASKED BY HON’BLE MEMBERS SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV AND SHRI CHANDRAKANT KHAIRE REGARDING CANCELLATION OF DEEMED STATUS
(a): At present, there are 128 educational institutions which have been declared Deemed to be University by the Central Government. The State-Wise breakup of these institutions is as under:
S. No. States Deemed to be Universities 1 Andhra Pradesh 5 2 Arunachal Pradesh 1 3 Bihar 2 4 Chandigarh 1 5 Gujarat 2 6 Haryana 6 7 Jharkhand 2 8 Karnataka 14 9 Kerala 2 10 Madhya Pradesh 3 11 Maharashtra 21 12 Odisha 2 13 Punjab 2 14 Pondicherry 1 15 Rajasthan 8 16 Tamil Nadu 28 17 Telangana 2 18 Uttar Pradesh 10 19 Uttarakhand 4 20 West Bengal 1 21 NCT of Delhi 11 TOTAL 128
(b): Yes, Madam. An educational institution which intends to acquire Deemed to be University status submits its proposal to the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The Ministry in turn for wards the proposal to the University Grants Com- mission (UGC) for examination and recommendation in accordance with the procedures laid down under the prevailing UGC Guidelines/Regulations. Thereafter, UGC constitutes an Expert Committee for on the spot inspection consisting of experts from relevant fields in order to verify the physical infrastructure and teaching faculty. The Expert Committee which includes nominees of the statutory councils submits its report which is considered by the Commission. The Commission, after due deliberation, forwards the recommendation to the Ministry. The Ministry, on the advice of the UGC, thereafter declares an educational Institution as Deemed to be University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956.
(c) & (d): In view of the concern expressed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in W.P.(Civil) 142 of 2006 about the indiscriminate proliferation of Deemed to be Universities, several with hardly any infrastructure and also in pursuance of the general perception about the decrease in standards of higher education in some Institutions Deemed to be Universities, the Government on 06/07/2009, constituted a Review Committee comprising Professor P.N. Tandon, Professor Mrinal Miri, Professor Anandkrishnan and Professor Goverdhan Mehta to review the functioning of the existing Institutions Deemed to be Universities. The Committee used the following parameters to evaluate the Deemed to be Universities:-
a) Consideration of the idea of a university
b) Whether all present academic activities/programmes could have been carried out without being a deemed university; how the status of deemed university became a stimulus for better performance
c) Conformity to the provisions of the UGC Act and the UGC Guidelines for the recognition of an institution ‘deemed to be a university’
d) Aspects of Governance
e) Quality of and innovations in teaching – learning process
f) Research output and its impact (research publications, books, monographs, patents, etc)
g) Doctoral and other research degree programmes
h) Faculty resources
i) Admission processes and award of degrees
The Review Committee, on the basis of their evaluation and assessment, reported that while some Institutions Deemed to be Universities met the required benchmarks, some others would need some time to do so and yet, some others, numbering 44, owing to deficiencies, did not deserve to continue as Institutions Deemed to be Universities. The Government, in principle, accepted the report of the Review Committee. However, the issue regarding implementation of the recommendations of the Committee is currently sub-judice in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the matter of Viplav Sharma Vs Union of India and Others [WP (C) No. 142 of 2006]. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has directed the Government to maintain status quo with regard to these 44 institutions Deemed to be Universities.
(e) Yes, Madam. In the latest hearing on 26th September, 2014 in the case of Viplav Sharma Vs Union of India and Others [WP (C) No. 142 of 2006], the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has directed the UGC to physically inspect the seven institutions Deemed to be Universities within 12 weeks.
Accordingly, the UGC has constituted an Expert Committee consisting of the following members namely; (i) Prof. Dr. Jaspal S. Sandhu, Secretary, UGC (Chairman), (ii) Sh. S P Goyal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of HRD (Member), (iii) Prof. Dr. O. P. Kalra, Principal, University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi (Member), (iv) Prof. Dr. M. P. Poonia, Principal, National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training & Research, Chandigarh (Member), (v) Prof. Ramesh Dadhich, Member-Secretary, ICSSR, New Delhi (Member), and (vi) Deputy Secretary (Deemed to be Universities), UGC, New Delhi (Coordinating Officer) to physically inspect seven Institutions Deemed to be Universities within the stipulated time frame.
The inspection of these seven Institutions Deemed to be Universities is at present going on. Any comment about the infrastructure and academic quality in these universities can be made only after the receipt of the report of the above Committee from UGC.Download PDF Files
