Manav Rachna pleads for withdrawal of deemed university status

It is an unusual situation, where the one of the deemed university's - Manav Rachna International University, has pleaded before the Supreme Court for the inspection of its campus, has written to HRD ministry seeking withdrawal of deemed university status.

According to sources, Manav Rachna is likely to seek state university status as becoming a state university will keep Manav Rachna in the business.

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However, it is not going to be easy for Manav Rachna to get rid of the deemed university status. Sources said, "Since the matter is sub-judice the decision can be taken only by the Supreme Court. After all, Manav Rachna was in favour of inspection of its campus."

Meanwhile, the UGC-appointed committee headed by its secretary J S Sandhu and also consisting of S P Goyal, joint secretary, HRD ministry has finished inspecting three of the seven deemed universities. Goyal has sent a note recusing himself from the committee on the ground that it is a conflict of interest.

He looks after UGC in the ministry and the report of the committee will be handled by him. "It will become difficult for the ministry to question UGC committee report since its senior official will be a part of it," one official said.

Already, many deemed universities have pointed out that the formation of the committee is against UGC regulation of 2009 that clearly states how to form them. The present committee is a complete violation of the UGC norms.

The regulation says the committee should consist of two serving or retired vice-chancellors of any central or state university; not less than three and not more than five members, at least one being woman, from amongst professors having special knowledge of the courses being conducted in the university; one member from each of the councils with jurisdiction over the courses in the university and one member from National Academic and Accreditation Council. Regulation also says that the committee should be headed by one of the two VCs.

Meanwhile, sources said, others in the list of seven are also seeking legal advice of getting out of the deemed university status. Apart from Manav Rachna, others being inspected are Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Academy of Maritime Education & Training, Bharath Institute of Higher Education & Research, Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Technology & Science, Maharshi Markandeshwar University, and Institute of Advanced Studies in Education.