New Delhi, Jan. 25: In a bid to soothe the atmosphere and send a positive signal to students of 44 "deemed universities" after the human resources development ministry’s revocation of their recognition, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the government to maintain "status quo" on its decision till the matter was taken up for further hearing in March.
The court issued notice to all 44 deemed universities to file affidavits by the next hearing on March 8 detailing their grievances. A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Patnaik said till then "status quo" will be maintained on the government order, which means the HRD ministry’s order will be in suspended animation.
The court directed the attorney-general, Mr Goolam E. Vahanvati, to place before it the report of the task force set up by HRD minister Kapil Sibal to examine the functioning of 126 deemed universities as well as the report of the review committee as the ministry had acted on the recommendations of these two panels. It further directed Mr Vahanvati to submit an affidavit on the steps the ministry proposed to take to safeguard the interests of over two lakh students of these 44 deemed universities. This order, with multiple directions, came after a battery of the country’s top legal brains, appearing for different deemed universities, assailed the HRD ministry’s action, citing several legal "loopholes". The court was hearing a PIL by advocate Viplav Sharma challenging the grant of deemed university status to several institutions by former HRD minister Arjun Singh in a "reckless" manner.
Senior advocates Fali S. Nariman, K. Parasaran, K.K. Venugopal, Rajiv Dhawan and others took on the government, saying it had acted merely on the reports of the task force and review committee despite these bodies having no statutory status, while recommendations of the University Grants Commission, a statutory body, were overlooked.
Mr Prasaran said the way HRD ministry acted merely on the basis of the reports of the two non-statutory panels set by it was like "making a woman a widow even before her marriage is solemnised". The court, however, assured the lawyers for the universities that nothing will happen to the institutions and students before the matter was heard.
S.S. Negi