Act on bogus colleges duping students: SC to Centre

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to examine the measures needed to curb the activities of bogus colleges claiming affiliation to various universities and ruining the lives of thousands of students.

A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A K Patnaik asked the Solicitor General to examine the measures for curbing the menace as it felt that a number of such colleges have mushroomed in the country particularly in southern India.

"We are concerned with the very concept of affiliation. There are a number of colleges which are claiming affiliation to some university or the other. But after two years, it is found that they have no such affiliation.

"It is happening very often. No amount of compensation can compensate the poor students for the academic loss," the bench told the Solicitor General who agreed.

The apex court noted that in most cases when efforts are made to impose penalty on such erring colleges, it fails to pay dividends as those responsible for the management manage to escape.

"There are many such fly-by-night operators. Even if you impose Rs one lakh-two lakh penalty, it cannot be recovered from them because the directors or others repsonsible for the management are not traceable," the bench remarked citing one of its earlier such directives.