Inspect varsity for courses run as commercial venture, says HC

The Madras High Court on Friday directed the University Grants Commission to hold an inspection at the state-run Madurai Kamaraj University for distance education degrees being offered as a commercial venture in violation of norms and prosecute the officials responsible for it.

Justice S M Subramanian said the university officials should be made accountable for misguiding and cheating students by offering courses on the basis of commercial venture with the only purpose of making money.

He dismissed a petition by S Vani, who was allowed by the university to join B.A (History) correspondence course in the third year after she had studied B.Sc (Chemistry) for two years, seeking appointment as a government teacher.

"This is against law and unknown to common sense," the judge said, referring to the student being awarded B.A (History) degree based on which she applied for the teacher's post.

Coming down on the university officials, he said one cannot expect students to know various UGC guidelines to get appointment as teachers and innocent students should not be cheated.

The judge directed the high court registrar to communicate the court order to UGC for further action.

The UGC should find out the irregularities in conducting such courses and prosecute the officials responsible for it, he said, noting the government rightly rejected the candidature of the petitioner.

"As per UGC regulation, only regular pattern students who had classroom experience should be considered for the appointment of teachers and public appointments," he said.

It was unfortunate that even established universities were offering courses under commercial venture and cheating students, he said, asking them to stop such irregularities and take the matter seriously.