The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Deemed varsities to abide by UGC rules

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 08, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Deemed varsities to abide by UGC rules

Staff Reporter

They are open to inspection too "It is now a question of authority of the AICTE versus the autonomy of deemed universities"

CHENNAI: Managements of deemed universities in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday said they would abide by the University Grants Commission rules.

However, if the Madras High Court ruled that an inspection by the AICTE was necessary, the universities would abide by it too, the managements told newspersons here.

G. Viswanathan, chancellor of the Vellore Institute of Technology here, referred to a ruling by the Supreme Court in September 2001 and to the UGC inspection rules laid down in March 2004 and stated that Government had framed the rules of inspection for all deemed universities in the country.

Besides, Mr. Viswanathan, Jeppiaar, chancellor of Sathyabama Deemed University, T. Pachamuthu, chancellor of SRM Deemed University, and R. Sethuraman, vice chancellor of Sastra Deemed University, Thanjavur, met the press.

They said their institutions had complied with the UGC rules and maintained its standards. Though until 2001 the colleges had abided by the AICTE norms, delay in starting courses had forced them to seek help, Mr. Viswanathan said.

Anna varsity cited

The vice chancellors said even the Anna University conducted courses without AICTE's approval.

"It is now a question of authority of the AICTE versus the autonomy of deemed universities," he said. "When the case is decided we will follow the judgement."

He urged the students to return to classes saying that some vested interests were creating confusion among the students.

Mr. Sethuraman cited the Bharatidasan University case that came up to the Supreme Court and the estimates committee statement on the relationship between universities and the AICTE presented to the Lok Sabha in 2004 to explain that the AICTE had no authority to inspect the universities.

The management representatives stoutly denied reports about deemed university students being sent out of jobs, or that engineering students would only get a B.Sc. degree course. Those admitted to B. Tech courses would receive only the B. Tech degree, he said.

Mr. Pachamuthu said the students-teacher ratio at his university was 1: 12.5 as against the AICTE prescribed 1:15.

Assurance to students

Mr. Pachamuthu and Mr. Jeppiaar said no penal action would be taken against students returning to classes.

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