NEW DELHI: HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday sought to allay the anxiety of students enrolled in 44 deemed universities on the brink of being de-recognised, by promising that no student will be left in the lurch. The ministry's task force has clearly delineated the roadmap for students in these institutions ensuring that no one suffers, he said.

The assurance notwithstanding, many questions linger. For instance, HRD ministry's affidavit in the Supreme Court clearly states that even if the institutions concerned lose deemed university status, they remain colleges and will be affiliated to state universities. In case of medical/dental colleges, they will seek affiliation from state medical universities.

Asked what if state governments refused to give affiliation, sources said the ministry would seek a relevant directive from the Supreme Court. "There are other methods also," they said.

The HRD ministry, however, is confident that it has a foolproof case in the apex court. Highly placed sources said the 44 deemed universities should not hope that a clean chit by UGC's review committee (separate from the HRD ministry's panel) can help them challenge the recommendation seeking removal of ‘deemed’ status.

Sources said under the UGC Act, the HRD ministry may or may not accept UGC's recommendations. "Anyway, UGC had reviewed only a few parameters of these institutions whereas the HRD ministry's review committee looked into the complete picture. It cannot be challenged," a highly placed source said.

Another important issue pertains to what happens to institutions that got deemed status by virtue of starting courses in new areas of knowledge like nano technology. They were called deemed university in ‘de novo’ category. Quizzed about it, sources said, "Their deemed status will be withdrawn precisely because they were not teaching new areas of knowledge and were instead focussing on regular medical and engineering courses. Students of these institutions will also become part of state universities."

While they did not elaborate, what is clearly implied is that students who got enrolled for these niche disciplines can at best hope to pass out as regular graduates. The degrees of those enrolled with "deemed universities" now staring at de-recognition will be of the institutions they may get attached to in future. "Students will eventually get the degree from the new university," sources maintained.

Those who have already passed out from the "universities" in question need not worry. "They will not be affected because the deemed status was not taken away then," sources said. But the ministry is keen that the institutions are not able to give back-dated certificates. Sources said the ministry had anticipated such a possibility and, therefore, the review committee's questionnaire had asked each institute to furnish details of past and present students. "Back-dated degrees cannot be given now," a source said.

Meanwhile, HRD ministry is waiting for the next hearing in Supreme Court on January 25 before it starts issuing notices to these 44 deemed universities.

source: TOI