High Court directs UGC to decide on KSOU plea by Dec 11

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to pass an order by December 11 on the Karnataka State Open University’s (KSOU) request for recognition to commence non-technical degree courses for 2017-18 by making in-house admissions without academic collaboration with private institutions.

The court also passed a direction to officials of both KSOU and UGC to meet on November 27 so that the KSOU representatives can clarify that the university is only seeking recognition to start non-technical courses without the involvement of external private agencies.

Justice B.V. Nagarathna issued the direction while expressing disappointment over the UGC’s conduct. The commission has not taken a decision on the KSOU request despite repeated directions from the court in the past couple of months. The court also observed orally that the UGC cannot treat KSOU, a State-run university, like any private institution.

In its petition, KSOU has stated that the UGC has not acted upon its request made about eight months ago. Pointing out that the university’s recognition was withdrawn in 2015 mainly because of alleged illegalities in the academic collaborative system with private institutions; KSOU contended that the UGC should not have any difficulty to granting it recognition to commence courses run directly by the university. Inaction on part of the UGC has denied students the opportunity of utilising the university infrastructure created specifically to offer distance-learning courses, the petition said.