Deemed universities: UGC draft rules to regulate fees threaten autonomy

TNN | Dec 4, 2019, 04.42 AM IST

BENGALURU: The ministry of human resource development has notified the draft rules for regulation of fee in deemed universities in the country. While the draft rules are out in the public and suggestions are invited for the same, deemed varsities in the state have expressed fears that increasing government intervention will affect their autonomy.

According to the draft University Grants Commission (Fees in professional education imparted by private aided and unaided institutions deemed to be universities) Regulations, 2019, fees in deemed universities must be decided by a fee fixation committee that will have a

University Grants Commission (UGC) nominee apart from educationists.

The committee will take into account faculty salaries, administrative expenses, capital expenditure on infrastructure, maintenance of library/laboratory and a reasonable surplus of 10-15% while fixing fees. It will have the responsibility to ensure there is no profiteering. The institution should propose the fee six months before admission season and the amount decided by the committee should be communicated much ahead of the admission season. No capitation fee can be levied.

The committee must be chaired by a UGC nominee and should include three other UGC nominees and one nominee of the statutory national regulatory authority.

Karnataka has 15 deemed universities, with several of them running medical and engineering courses. While some of them are fine with the regulation, several others have raised concerns. “The issue of fee fixation in deemed universities is already in the Supreme Court under a case filed by Education Promotion Society for India. In such a scenario, how can the Centre come up with a new set of rules to regulate fees in these institutes? On the one hand, the government talks about setting up high-quality higher educational institutions, and at the same time it tries to regulate it. Is a Harvard or an Oxford regulated by the government,” asked S Kumar, chancellor, Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, a deemed-to-be university in Kolar.

The deemed universities have raised concerns about some points in the draft rules. “When the government is not providing us with any money, how can they interfere in our administrative matters? The rule says we must manage two accounts — one for maintenance and the other for development. They are purely administrative matters. A university is a professional institution and we have our ways of doing it. The government has no business in it,” said Fr Abraham VM, vice-chancellor, Christ (deemed-to-be university).

Yenepoya (deemed-to-be university) has already prepared a feedback for the UGC. “Every state has its own fee fixation committee. But never have they visited institutes to find out the ground reality and the cost of education. We are suggesting that the committee do physical assessment before the fee is fixed. Apart from the matter of maintaining two accounts, we also are highlighting the fact that not all costs are covered under the draft rules,” said pro-chancellor Mohammed Farhaad.

PIL filed for medical college

06/12/2019 , CHENNAI

The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered notices to the Central and State governments on a public interest litigation petition filed by former MLA P. Kalyanam to establish a government medical college at Nidur village in Mayiladuthurai revenue division instead of the current site of a grassland at Orathur village in Nagapattinam taluk.

Law varsity convocation
 
06/12/2019 , Special Correspondent, CHENNAI

The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University will hold its convocation on February 1, 2020. Undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D. students, who have completed various courses till May 2019 examinations, can apply. The application forms should be filled and submitted on or before December 31 to respective directors of courses. The forms can be downloaded from www.tndalu.ac.in.

TNSTC to operate 2,615 special buses for Karthigai Deepam
Thousands expected to visit Tiruvannamalai for fest

06/12/2019 , Staff Reporter, TIRUVANNAMALAI

The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation plans to operate 2,615 special buses from Chennai, Villupuram, Kumbakonam, Tiruchi, Madurai, Bengaluru, Salem, Dharmapuri, Hosur, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Vellore and Kancheepuram to Tiruvannamalai for the Karthigai Deepam festival. The buses are scheduled to make 6,500 trips from December 10 to 12.

Karthigai Deepamis celebrated in a grand style for 10 days every year at the Lord Arunachaleswarar temple, in Tiruvannamalai. This year’s festival started with the hoisting of the flag on December 1. The car festival is slated for December 7 and Mahadeepam on December 10.

Thousands of devotees are expected to visit the temple town from across the State and neighbouring Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Non-vegetarian stalls will remain closed.

Collector K.S. Kandasamy has ordered closure of all meat shops and non-vegetarian stalls in the Tiruvannamalai municipal areas and the 14-km Girivalam path on December 7 and 10.

Entry passes

The district administration has decided to permit 2,500 devotees to climb Annamalai Hill in Tiruvannamalai for the Karthigai Deepam festival. A counter will be set up to issue passes to devotees at 6 a.m. on December 10 on a first-come-first-served basis.

The administration, along with the police department and the temple administration, will open a counter on the Shanmuga Industries Government Higher Secondary School campus at 6 a.m. Devotees should produce Aadhaar, election ID card or any other government-issued document to obtain the passes. They will be permitted to climb the hill only through the designated route near Pey Gopuram.

They will be allowed to pour ghee only in the cauldron, but should not light deepam in any other place.

No sanction is required to prosecute retired public servant in graft case, rules apex court
AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:06.12.2019

The Supreme Court on Thursday said there is no need to seek sanction before prosecuting a retired government employee in a corruption case, holding that such protection is available to a public servant only during his service.

Abench of Justices U U Lalit, Indu Malhotra and Krishna Murari said the requirement of sanction under Section 19 of Prevention of Corruption Act is only for serving government employees and there is no bar to initiate prosecution after retirement for the offence committed during the service period.

The bench quashed the Karnataka high court verdict which had ruled that the protection should continue even after retirement and sanction was needed to initiate proceedings against a former public servant.

While discharging an assistant general manager of Vijaya Bank in a corruption case for lack of sanction, the HC had said, “A protection available to a public servant while in service should also be available after his retirement. It cannot be forgotten that even after retirement, he is prosecuted for offences under Prevention of Corruption Act. Indeed, the retirement removes one from the garb of a public servant; but justice requires that same protection should be available even after one’s retirement.”

Section 19(1) of the Act says no court shall take cognizance of an offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant, except with previous sanction.

Referring to various judgements of the apex court, the bench said the HC erred in its decision. “There was no occasion or reason to entertain any application seeking discharge in respect of offences punishable under the Act, on the ground of absence of any sanction under Section 19 of the Act. The high court was also not justified in observing that the protection available to a public servant while in service, should also be available after his retirement. That statement is completely inconsistent with the law laid down by this court in connection with requirement of sanction under Section 19 of the Act,” it said.

In this case, an FIR was registered against the manager for misusing his position in granting loan of ₹3 crore to a company in 2010 in gross violation of rules and regulations of the bank.

The case was registered in 2012 after his retirement. CBI filed chargesheet against him in 2014 after completing the investigations. The accused thereafter sought discharge on the ground that sanction was not taken but his plea was rejected by the trial court. HC, however, set aside the trial court order and discharged him.

Paving the way for trial of the accused, the apex court said, “Having considered the matter in entirety, in our view, the high court clearly erred in allowing criminal revision petition and accepting the challenge raised by the him on the issue of sanction. We, thus, allow this appeal, set aside the view taken by the high court, restore the order passed by the trial court and dismiss the application seeking discharge.”

The SC bench said the requirement of sanction under Section 19 of Prevention of Corruption Act is only for serving government employees and there is no bar to initiate prosecution after retirement for the offence committed during the service period

Univ yet to register 1st-year medicos as it awaits clearance from cops on Neet scam

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:06.12.2019

With the deadline nearing for registering firstyear MBBS students admitted to colleges affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, the varsity might miss the date as the CB-CID investigating the NEET scam and forensic officials screening fingerprints are yet to clear the students’ names.

University registration by the second week of December is required to allow students appear for written and practical examinations. Delay in registration could affect the exam schedule of first-year students.

“We have received the name list, but we won’t be able to proceed with the registration until we have clearance from the investigating agencies,” university vicechancellor Dr Sudha Seshayyan said.

Besides this, Sri Muthukumaran Medical College, a self-financing college, had excess admissions. “The court has declared some admissions by the college illegal. But the college has sent us names of 152 candidates for registration. We can’t regularise this. We have sought clarification from the state selection committee and college authorities,” another senior official said. The college has also been asked to submit compliance report as directed by the court for accreditation.

In September, an anonymous email sent to the Government Theni Medical College dean alerted the state about impersonation scam in NEET 2019. At least four students were caught impersonating in their entrance test.

Based on orders from the Madras high court, fingerprints of all first-year medical students in the state were taken for verification. The National Testing Agency, the nodal agency that conducts the entrance exam, sent fingerprints of students for examination.

The deans of all medical colleges — government and private — also collected fingerprints of students in colleges and sent them to the directorate of medical education. “We have submitted all fingerprints to the police,” said director of medical education Dr R Narayanababu.

A senior police official incharge of the case said the verification process was still on. “There are more than 6,000 candidates. We must verify thumb prints of each candidate on paper. This takes time,” the official said.

University registration by the second week of December is required to allow students to appear for exams

PC walks out of jail after 106 days, SC says bail is the rule
Can’t Speak On Case, Fly Out Sans Nod

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:5.12.2019

After spending 106 days in custody, former finance minister P Chidambaram walked out of Tihar Jail on Wednesday evening after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate. He was earlier given bail in another case related to INX Media scam being probed by the CBI.

Abench of Justices R Banumathi, A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy granted Chidambaram conditional bail, subject to executing bail bonds for a sum of ₹2 lakh with two sureties of the same amount. In an unusual order, the court barred him from giving interviews or making public statements on the case. It also restrained him from leaving the country without the permission of the trial court and directed him to cooperate in the ongoing probe and appear before the ED whenever summoned.

Though the SC agreed with the Delhi HC order that economic offences come within the category of grave offences, it held that the basic jurisprudence — that the grant of bail is the rule and refusal is the exception — continues to hold field to ensure that the accused has the opportunity of securing a fair trial.

While giving PC relief, top court considers old age and ailments

SC also ruled that the gravity of the offence must be one of the factors to be considered in addition to the triple test of flight risk, tampering of evidence and influencing witnesses while deciding a bail plea.

“Therefore, the underlining conclusion is that irrespective of the nature and gravity of charge, the precedent of another case alone will not be the basis for either grant or refusal of bail though it may have a bearing on principle,” the court said while setting aside the high court order refusing bail.

While granting relief to the former FM, it said one of the coaccused has been granted bail by the HC while another has been given interim protection from arrest. It also noted that even the HC had held that Chidambaram is not a flight risk and there is no possibility of tampering with evidence or influencing/intimidating witnesses. It said he didn’t hold any post in the government of the day so as to be in a position to interfere in the ongoing probe.

The court also took into account Chidambaram’s old age and his ailments which aggravated during incarceration as he was put on antibiotics and had been advised to take steroids.

“Taking these and all other facts and circumstances including the duration of custody into consideration, the appellant in our considered view is entitled to be granted bail,” the court said.

BAIL CONDITIONS

Shall not give press interviews nor make any public comment in connection with the case

Shall not tamper with evidence or attempt to intimidate or influence witnesses

Shall make himself available for interrogation for further investigation as & when required

Cannot leave country without specific orders to be passed by special judge

Passport, deposited in court in CBI case, shall remain in deposit

Execution of bail bonds for 2 lakh with two sureties of like amount