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Constitution of India-Schedule VII List II Entry 32, List III Entry 25 and Article 246-lncorporation of private university-Pre-requisites for'- Discussed. Schedule VII List II Entries 32, 66 List III Entry 25 and Article 245- Universities having power to have off-campus centres outside the State-Held, ultra vires Article 245(1)-Primacy of legislative competence of Parliament: Maintenance of high standards-Need for-' University '-Meaning of Discussed. Schedule VII List II Entry 32, Articles 246, 73 and 162-incorporation of university-Mode for-May be established only through legislative enactment and not by exercise of executive power-Social impact of incorporation of university-Comparison with incorporation of Company- Distinction between. Articles 246, 254 and Schedule VII-Legislative competence-Primacy of Parliament-Held, any State legislation which simplifies or sets at naught - an enactment validly made by Parliament would be wholly ultra vires. Education: Universities-Chhattisgarh Niji Kshetra Vishwavidyalaya (Sthapana Aur Viniyaman) Adhiniyam, 2002-Sections 5,6,3(8) & 9-Chhattisgarh Niji Kshetra Vishwavidyalaya (Sthapana Aur Viniyaman) Sansodhan Adhiniyam, 2004-Sections 5,6,3(6),2(7),5(1)(b)-Constitutional validity of-Held, are ultra vires the Constitution, being a fraud on the Constitution. Universities-Degree-Value of-Held, principal advantage of holding a university degree is in matter of employment, public or private or in self employment-Interest of society requires that the holder of an academic degree possesses the proficiency and expertise in the subject which the degree certifies-Thus, power conferred to specific bodies-UGC Act, 1956-Section 22. University Grants Commission Act, 1956-object of and reasons for creation of-Discussed-Expression 'established or incorporated' to be read as 'established and incorporated' in so far as private universities are concerned Under Section 5 of the Adhiniyam the State has been empowered to incorporate and establish a university by issuing a notification in the Gazette and Section 6 permits such university to affiliate any college or other institution or to set up more than one campus with the prior approval of the State Government. According to the petitioners, after coming into force of the Adhiniyam, the State Government has been, simply by issuing notifications in the Gazette, establishing universities in an indiscriminate and mechanical manner without having slightest regard to the availability of any infrastructure, teaching facility or their financial resources. In about one year 112 universities were established and many of them had absolutely no buildings or campus and were running from one room tenements. There was absolutely no regulation or supervision over them. The legislation has been enacted in a manner which has completely done away with any kind of control of University Grants Commission ('UGC') over these private universities. The guidelines issued by UGC on the courses being taught and award of academic degrees has been given a complete go-by. The universities issued brochures for award of all kinds of degrees like "Member of the International Institute of Medical Sciences", "Fellow of the International Institute of Medical Sciences" and many other similar degrees. The universities are wholly incapable of imparting any education much less a quality education in absence of basic infrastructure like classrooms, libraries, laboratories or campus. Nevertheless by conferment of a legal status of a university, they have been empowered to award degrees. The private universities are running professional courses without taking prior permission from regulatory bodies such as All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), Medical Council of India (MCI), Dental Council of India (DCI), etc. The_ requirement of obtaining prior permission from the regulatory bodies has not been followed and the universities are not under the control of any authority and are at liberty to grant degrees, diplomas and certificates to gullible students. The State Government has not done any verification or checking of universities after issuance of notification in the Gazette, whether they fulfil any norms laid down by the statutory bodies, which is essential for recognition of the degrees, diplomas and certificates awarded by such universities. In absence of requisite permission from the statutory bodies, the degrees and certificates awarded by such universities would not be recognised by the professional organisations, as a result whereof the students studying in such universities and obtaining the degrees therefrom would suffer immense loss, both in terms of money and also the time spent in completing the courses. It is further averred that the University Grants Commission Act is made nugatory as private universities are offering courses without subscribing to the standards laid down by the UGC and there being no homogeneity of the course content, the degree awarded may not be of any value. The private universities are offering unheard of courses and degrees which are not part of schedule to the UGC Act, which is in clear violation of Section 22 of the aforesaid Act and the Schedule appended thereto. The minimum requirement of teaching staff as laid down in the guidelines of UGC had also been given a complete go-by. Young students are being misled in enrolling themselves in courses which do not have any substantive content and the degrees offered by such private universities would affect the standard of education at large which in turn will jeopardize the educational system of the whole country and not that of State of Chhattisgarh alone. Several legal issues have also been raised in the writ petitions, the principal being that the manner in which these private universities are functioning would result in creating a complete chaos in the system of higher education in the country and the expert bodies created by the Central Government like, University Grants Commission, Medical Council of India, All India Council for Technical Education etc. for coordination and determination of standards in their own respective fields would not be able to perform their statutory duty and would make their functioning not only difficult but almost impossible. Before this Court, the respondent State claimed that it has the legislative competence to make an enactment regarding incorporation of University; that the impugned Act had been passed to facilitate establishment of private Universities with a view to create supplementary resources for assisting the State Government in providing quality higher education; that the notifications establishing the Universities were issued on the basis of the representations made by the sponsoring bodies as set out in their project reports, that the State Government expected that the Universities would make the requisite infrastructure including campus, building, etc. and recruit qualified staff so as to provide higher education in order to achieve the object for which the Universities were established, that however, the functioning of the Universities post notification was dismal and completely belied the expectations which the State Government had in that behalf, raising serious concern about the academic interests of the students seeking admission therein, that the State Legislature, accordingly, enacted the Chhattisgarh Niji Kshetra Vishwavidyalaya (Sthapana Aur Viniyaman) Sansodhan Adhiniyam, 2004, and that after expiry of the time limit fixed in the aforesaid amending Act, 59 Universities were de-notified on account of their failure to comply with the amended provisions. It is further averred that after the Act had been amended in the year 2004, the petitioner's grievance has been completely met and consequently the writ petitions deserve to be dismissed. |
