Notices to UGC, HP govt & pvt varsities on violation of norms

The Himachal Pradesh High Court today issued notices to UGC, the state government and 16 private universities of the state, seeking a reply by November 13 over alleged violation of educational norms by these institutes.
Taking suo motu cognisance of a newspaper report, a division bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Kuldip Singh said, "From the news item, it transpires that the UGC is abdicating its authority bordering on non-performance and disregarding violations committed by private universities."
The court held that this was "polluting the environment" of quality education, and pointed out that the primary duty of maintaining standard of higher education lies with UGC.

"We accordingly deem it appropriate to issue notice in public interest to UGC to file response to the factual matters stated in the subject news item," the bench said and asked two senior advocates to appear as amicus curiae to assist the court.