The Supreme Court on Friday made it clear to the University Grants Commission (UGC) that it will have to carry out a physical inspection of the 41 deemed universities and maintained there was no other alternative to assess whether they meet the physical and academic standards required under the law. The Commission had earned the ire of the Court for entertaining video presentations from the above institutions without going for inspections.
Passing orders with regard to seven out of the 41 institutions, which demanded physical inspection of their faculty and infrastructure, the bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Vikramajit Sen directed the UGC to conclude inspection in three months.
The Commission would then prepare a report to the Centre and submit a copy of the same to the Court.
Having understood the order to refer only to seven out of the 41 deemed varsities, UGC asked the Court whether the order would apply to the remaining 34 as well. The petitioner Viplav Sharma, who was represented by advocate Sanjay Hegde, pointed out that the order may be misinterpreted by the UGC to be restricted only to seven institutions.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Vikramjit Sen ordered the UGC to complete physical verification of the institutions in three months and point out the deficiencies, if any, to them. “Give them reasonable time to make good the deficiencies and then submit your report with recommendations on them to the Centre with a copy of it to the court,” it ordered.
The bench said, “In our opinion physical verification from all scores and spectrum is a necessity. Neither the petitioners can give a restrictive meaning to it nor can the UGC gloss over it by adopting modern methods of photographs and videos.”
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh appearing for the UGC by abundant caution asked the Court whether the order meant that the Commission should carry out physical inspection in all cases, the bench said, “The writing is on the wall. We expect the UGC will behave.” Even the Centre, represented in Court by ASG Tushar Mehta said that after the order no deemed universities could escape physical verification.
Hegde reiterated that there could be possible attempt by UGC to let off some of the unfit varsities. But the bench gave no room to the apprehension. “We as court cannot undertake judicial governance. The UGC must act fair,” the Court said, indicating to the expert body that it faced a problem of “trust deficit” which it must realise and act.