After SC Order, 14 Deemed Universities Now Have ‘Distinct’ Names

The UGC had earlier directed a total of 123 ‘Deemed-To-Be Universities’ to drop ‘university’ from their names.

The HRD ministry has notified 14 deemed-to-be universities of their new names on Friday, 12 January, after seeking the law ministry’s opinion. A gazette notification is expected to be out soon that will complete the process.

This comes after the Supreme Court order directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to repress deemed universities from using the word ‘university’ in their names, 14 institutions have rechristened their old names, The Indian Express reported.

The institutions which have strange sounding names include Bengaluru’s Christ university that will be known as only “Christ”, and Jain University as “Jain”. Dehradun’s Graphic Era University has been reduced to “Graphic Era” along with Ghaziabad’s Santosh University which will be called “Santosh”. Pune’s Symbiosis International University has been renamed as “Symbiosis International”.

The UGC had sent the directions to removed ‘university’ from the name of 123 ‘Deemed To Be Universities’ to drop on two occasions, 3 November and 10 November giving them 15 days to stop using the term.

‘Deemed To Be University’ is an accreditation afforded by the Indian government to institutions that confer them the status of universities.

Failure to comply with these directions would amount to violation of the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2016, and necessary action would be initiated against the institutions deemed to be universities in accordance with clause 22.0 of these regulations which may include recommending withdrawal of the declaration notifying the institution as an ‘Institution Deemed to be University’ to the Central Government.

The first UGC letter was sent to seven institutes – including Pune’s Symbiosis International University, and Bengaluru-based Christ University and Jain University. The government had used the word “university” with their names while granting them the deemed status, Hindustan Times reported.

The second directive was issued to 19 other institutes, including Manipal University, Delhi’s TERI University, KLE University in Belagavi, HT report added. The institutions were asked to “revert” to their old names notified by the government at the time of granting of deemed-to-be status and drop the word ‘university’.

However, 14 universities had been incorrectly referred to as ‘university’ by the HRD ministry and were subsequently asked to suggest alternative names that did not contain the word ‘university’.

Most of the universities had requested that their names should carry ‘deemed to be university’ in a note at the end, The Indian Express reported. But the ministry refused to accept that, stating that the status granted by the UGC could not be included as part of the institution’s name, the report added. The names suggested by the 14 institutions were finally accepted.

Moreover, the government had accorded to names suggested by the four deemed universities. According to the Express report, these included Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeswara University in Mysuru (now JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research), Manav Rachna International University (now Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies) and Lingaya’s University (now Lingaya’s Vidyapeeth), both in Faridabad among others.

(With inputs from The Indian Express Hindustan Times )

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