SC nod to deemed univs to move for NAAC ranking

A bench, comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh, said it will not go into the grievances of the deemed universities with regard to their gradation and they will have to move NAAC itself afresh. “We direct the National Assessment and Accreditation Council to dispose of the pleas of deemed universities within 12 weeks on the issue,” the court said. Institutions graded A, B and C are considered very good, good and satisfactory respectively, and are accredited as deemed universities with the UGC. 

Grade ‘D’ is an unsatisfactory rating and is not accredited. NAAC, in pursuance of the apex court order, has assessed and accredited 38 deemed universities across the country and granted grade ‘A’ to 17, ‘B’ to 20 and grade ‘C’ to one. 

During the hearing, the bench, on being intimated by the authorities, clarified that the D Y Patil Education Society which also runs a medical college in Pune has been graded ‘A’ by NAAC. 

It also recorded the submission of senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for Viplav Sharma who had filed the PIL in 2006 on the issue of deemed universities, that such varsities will have to always mention that they are “deemed.”

Hegde also said they cannot be allowed to run off-campus centres. 

The submission was objected to by senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who appeared for a deemed university. The court posted the PIL for further hearing on July 12. Earlier, the apex court had asked NAAC to put in the public domain the gradation list of all 38 deemed universities. 

NAAC has considered various aspects including self- appraisal report of these universities before putting the information regarding their gradation on the website. 

Prior to this, the court had rapped the UGC over the physical verification of infrastructure and faculty strength of deemed universities which were black-listed by a government-appointed committee.