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Use power to grant deemed varsity status sparingly: panel

NEW DELHI: Concerned over mushrooming of deemed universities in the recent past, the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to the Human Resource Development Ministry has said the University Grants Commission should use its power to grant deemed university status “sparingly and only in highly deserving cases.”

In its 207th report on Demands for Grants of the Department of Higher Education, the committee said the power of the government and the UGC for granting this status to any institution “is extraordinary in nature because it amounts to bypassing legislatures.”

Referring to the recommendation in its 172nd report that the entire scheme for grant of deemed university status be “revisited,” the committee reiterated this proposal with a caveat that it “expects a considered response from the department.”

Recommending caution in the use of this power given to UGC, the committee said, “Perhaps inadvertently, some institutions which did not fulfil the required conditions have received this status.”

The department, in its response, attributed the increase in the number of deemed universities to a large number of institutions coming up with private initiative during the last 15 years.

With rules permitting the status, such institutions could not be denied recognition when they approached the UGC, the department said.

As for quality, it was submitted that the UGC followed a rigorous procedure for approving a proposal for deemed university.

With regard to the de novo route — by which the rules and guidelines for granting deemed university status are relaxed — the committee is in favour of devising a mechanism to ensure consultation with the States. At present, the rules provide for relaxation in the State clearance provision, whereby the UGC will wait for it only three-four months. If it does not come by then, the rules allow UGC to process the proposal and grant deemed university status.

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