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BU breaks its own rules on deemed varsity status?

Chitra V. Ramani

Recommendations in case of two colleges under cloud

The Government told UGC that it won’t issue NoC
BU Registrar wrote to UGC saying the university had no objection to enrolment of students

Bangalore: Have rules been bent in the issuance of “No-Objection Certificates” for grant of deemed university Status to two private colleges affiliated to Bangalore University?

The procedure followed by the Bangalore University in granting these crucial clearances for the coveted status has led many Syndicate members to believe that this was indeed the case.

As per the stipulated norms, the NoC from the Bangalore University has to be submitted to the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the grant of deemed university status. Christ College (Autonomous) was granted deemed university status on July 22 in an order signed by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development on the recommendations of the University Grants Commission.

However, the background to this has come under scrutiny. The State Government, in its response to Christ College’s request for issue of NoC, said it had decided “not to recommend any institution for conferment of deemed university status”. Kaushik Mukherjee, the then principal secretary, Department of Higher Education, had written to the UGC Chairman on April 15 saying:

“The State Government does not recommend the case of Christ College (Autonomous) for conferment of deemed university status.”

Although technically the State Government is not the authority to issue an NoC, the 74th meeting of the Bangalore University Syndicate held on June 7, took the decision not to issue an NoC to Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College, citing the Government’s letter to the UGC Chairman. However, disregarding this decision, an NoC signed only by Sanjay Vir Singh, Registrar, was sent to the UGC on July 12, and the college is awaiting the response of the UGC.

In the case of Christ College (Autonomous), no formal NoC was sent by the university. However, in a letter to the UGC on May 13 under the subject “Issue of enrolment certificate to Christ College”, the Registrar said: “The university does not have any objection in the enrolment of students already enrolled and approved by the university as it is essential to safeguard the interest and career of students.” Although the letter does not recommend an NoC to the college in unambiguous language, the statement quoted above was regarded as NoC by the UGC.

A Syndicate member alleged that this was a violation of the decisions of the university and the State Government. “The Registrar has worded his letters carefully and forwarded them to the UGC without informing anybody,” he said.

A senior official at the university told The Hindu that the letters of May 13 and July 12 sent by the Registrar to the UGC were “a complete violation of the Government’s and the university’s decisions.”

When contacted, Mr. Singh said he had indeed attached the Principal Secretary’s letter along with the one he sent to the UGC. He said that these letters, copies of which are with The Hindu, had been cleared by the Vice-Chancellor. “Somebody is trying to malign the university. All the procedures have been followed. Christ College is a renowned institution, which has been granted deemed university status on its own merit. However, the issue of payment of fees and admission approval is pending before the High Court. Our only concern is students,” he said.

Christ College authorities were unavailable for comment.

Chenraj Jain, founder-chairman, Jain Group of Institutions, said only the State Government could decide to issue NoC on a case-to-case basis and not the university Syndicate. The decision on Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College is pending.

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