Update on Deemed University Scandal
January 20, 2010: The Indian Express
Of the 44 institutes set to lose deemed-to-be university status — this has been conveyed to the Supreme Court by the HRD Ministry — at least 27 were accorded the status during the term of Arjun Singh as HRD Minister in the UPA I government.
While NDA’s HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi started the trend of making deemed university status more common than rare, it gained momentum once Arjun Singh and his team of officers took charge of HRD in 2004. This was his team:
* Sudeep Banerjee, HRD Additional Secretary who went on to become Higher Education Secretary. Known to Singh since his Madhya Pradesh days, Banerjee joined the HRD Ministry after Singh became Minister in 2004. Banerjee, who served as Chancellor of National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) after retirement, passed away last year.
* Joint Secretary, Higher Education, Sunil Kumar’s association with Arjun Singh goes back nearly 20 years. He was PS to Singh when he first became HRD Minister in 1991 in the Narasimha Rao government. Kumar is still in the Ministry on an extension.
* Arjun Singh’s OSD Jaideep Singh, a Haryana cadre IPS officer, and R K Goyal, who was Singh’s PS, wielded considerable clout.
* At the UGC, chairman Arun Nigavekar, appointed during the tenure of Murli Manohar Joshi, was succeeded by S K Thorat who remains its head.
* Banerjee handed charge of Secretary, Higher Education to R P Agarwal but that did not check the explosion in grant of deemed university status. Agarwal retired in October 2009.
* T R Kem, who was Secretary, UGC under Arjun Singh and is now Director, Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC), and current incumbent at UGC, R K Chauhan, are also said to have played roles.
* There was a rise in the number of deemed university status holders towards the end of Arjun Singh’s tenure — some 20 institutes were granted the status in 2008-09.
* While there were just 30 deemed universities until 1990, the number rose several times in the last 15 years. As many as 35 institutes were granted the status in the last five years alone.
THE 44 deemed-to-be universities across the country blacklisted by the HRD Ministry for de-recognition include several institutes which are controlled directly or indirectly by politicians, exposing an association that many activists say is unhealthy for higher education.
The three blacklisted institutions in Maharashtra are all associated with leaders of the ruling Congress or NCP. One of them, a medical college in Kolhapur, is controlled by the family of Tripura Governor D Y Patil. In Tamil Nadu, many of the 16 blacklisted institutions are controlled by politicians — of both the ruling DMK and rival AIADMK. A look at such blacklisted institutions and how they are associated with politicians:
-Dr DY Patil Medical College, Kolhapur: Dr D Y Patil, a staunch Congress supporter and currently the Governor of Tripura, is the founder president of the institute. His son Sanjay D Patil is the present president and chancellor of the university. His younger brother Satej Patil is the sitting Congress MLA from Kolhapur south. After almost 20 years as an affiliated medical college of Shivaji University, Kolhapur and later Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, the Dr DY Patil Medical College got the deemed-to-be university status in 2005. The college is spread over 25 acre and the building cost is put at around Rs 15 crore.
-Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Karad: Got deemed-to-be university status in 2005. Founder president is Jaywantrao Bhosale, a sugar baron, who, too is a staunch Congress loyalist who was elected the chairman of one of the first co-operative sugar factories in the country in 1959. In 1984, Bhosale was among those who succeeded in persuading the then CM Vasantrao Dada Patil to allow private participation in medical schools and engineering colleges. His son Dr Suresh Bhosale is the chancellor of the institute; he had contested the Assembly elections on an NCP ticket but lost to Congress rebel candidate Balasaheb Patil.
-Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune: Established in1921, it was awarded the deemed university status in 1987. It’s vice-chancellor is Deepak Tilak. His son Rohit Tilak had contested the recent Assembly elections from Kasba on a Congress ticket and had even got Rahul Gandhi to campaign for him. He lost.
-Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur: It functions under the aegis of a trust managed by K Veeramani, leader of DMK’s parent organisation, Dravidar Kazhagam. Veeramani is close to DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, and the university has established the Dr Kalaignar M Karunanidhi Centre for Political Science. Now rechristened the Periyar Maniammai University after attaining the deemed university status, it has opened campus in Delhi as well, though the UGC bars deemed universities from starting such centres.
-Bharath University, Chennai: Union Minister for State S Jagathrakshakan was the chancellor of the institution, formerly Bharath Institute of Higher Education & Research, Chennai, before becoming the minister.
-Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai: It is yet another deemed-to-be university operated by a politician, former AIADMK second rung leader AC Shanmugham. During the fag end of last AIADMK regime, the institution had faced the ire of then CM J Jayalalithaa who ordered the demolition of several buildings on its campus in 2005 on charges of illegal construction.
-St Peter’s Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai: It is owned and operated by those close to AIADMK leader and former minister Thambidurai, though he has denied having any association with it.
-Vels University: Established by Ishari K Ganesh, son of Isari Velan, a minister in the state government headed by AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran.
Even if you haven’t visited five-room deemed universities or read glossy college catalogues in fiction, here are statistics that say all. In the 35 years between 1956 and 1990, only 29 institutions were “deemed-to-be universities¶ by the Central government. In comparison, in the last five years, as many as 36 institutions have been granted this status. The spate of hasty approvals sparked accusations that Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal sought to address last year, when he ordered a review of all deemed-to-be universities. When this three-member review committee recommended 44 deemed-to-be universities for derecognition, the writing was on the wall. The Centre’s affidavit to the Supreme Court on Monday, accepting that recommendation, is both welcome and necessary.
Looking forward, the immediate concern is about the estimated two lakh students who will be affected by this step. In its affidavit, the Centre states that these below par institutions can continue as “affiliated colleges¶ to a state university, so that students can complete ongoing courses and exit with a degree. The HRD minister has also assured that no student will suffer. The “task force¶ preparing a plan to “safeguard¶ these students must be careful not to punish them for the follies of others. The other concern is for action on those responsible for this impasse. Who in the UGC and the HRD ministry gave the approvals that are now shown to be faulty, with stipulations clearly not followed? It is important that a thorough inquiry names the guilty and that they are punished.
Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act permits the Centre to grant “deemed-to-be university¶ status for educational institutions on the recommendation of the UGC. The Centre’s decision to derecognise will hopefully result in the sparing use of this section. But to prevent its use altogether might be self-defeating. The original purpose of this provision was to reward well-performing colleges with the autonomy that university status brings. Top-class deemed universities like Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani or Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai must be distinguished from more recent fly-by-night operators. It is hoped that the Centre accompanies this bold decision with a comprehensive overhaul.
http://tinyurl.com/44blacklited-universities
http://tinyurl.com/blacklited-universities
http://tinyurl.com/deemed-not-to-be
