Supreme Court directs NAAC to grade deemed universities

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) to issue grade certificates to 41 deemed universities, which have come under NAAC scrutiny for allegedly failing to fulfill various criteria required for getting recognition.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant directed the Council not to insist on 2010 regulation framed by UGC while deciding the grade of the universities.

However, it asked all the education institutions to file self appraisal report within 10 days before the Council which would grade them within two months thereafter.

The bench made it clear that any decision taken by the Council would be subject to the final outcome of the proceedings pending before it.

The Centre is bringing new system to grade universities after holding consultation with various stake-holders including University Grant Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE) and NAAC.

The court, which has been examining the status of deemed universities since 2006, said that the universities should not suffer because of accreditation and asked the Council to grade them as per its rules.