Varsities can fix additional rules for colleges seeking affiliation, rules SC

THE TOP COURT SAID UNIVERSITIES ARE NOT BOUND ONLY BY AICTE NORMS, WHICH ARE ONLY ADVISORY

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that universities are not bound only by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) norms and that they can specify additional conditions for colleges seeking their affiliation. It said the AICTE rules are only advisory in nature and a guiding factor.

“While universities cannot dilute the standards prescribed by AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education), they certainly have the power to stipulate enhanced norms and standards,” held a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde. The top court also pulled up the AICTE for opposing the idea of universities prescribing improved standards for the colleges but lacking any regulation as to how the students will get compensated when colleges get approvals on the basis of false information to the regulator.

“Though AICTE has reserved to itself the power to conduct inspections and take penal action against colleges for false declarations, such penal action does not mean anything and does not serve any purpose for the students who get admitted to colleges, which have necessary infrastructure only on paper and not on site,” it said.

Authoring the verdict on behalf of the bench, justice V

Ramasubramanian added: “Ultimately, it is the universities which are obliged to issue degrees and whose reputation is inextricably intertwined with the fate and performance of the students, that may have to face the music and hence their role cannot be belittled.”

The judgment settled the law on the issues surrounding authority of universities with respect to AICTE, after underscoring that even a body of Supreme Court judgments, starting from 1997, have failed in reflecting the correct position.

The bench maintained that “a careful scanning of the provisions of the AICTE Act and the provisions of the UGC (University Grants Commission) Act in juxtaposition will show that the role of the AICTE vis-a-vis the universities is only advisory, recommendatory and a guiding factor”.

While it is not open to the universities to dilute the norms and standards prescribed by AICTE, the bench held, it is always open to the universities to prescribe enhanced norms, such as pass percentage of outgoing students or employment potential of the proposed course for which the affiliation is being sought.

The ruling came while the bench allowed an appeal by APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, a state university of Kerala government. The university was aggrieved by a Kerala high court order, which had said that it could not go beyond what was prescribed by the AICTE as necessary conditions for granting affiliation.

“This is a very welcome decision. AICTE has over the last few decades failed miserably in maintaining high academic standards in professional courses,” said former UGC member Prof Inder Mohan Kapahy.