HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad high court on Wednesday asked
Gitam University why it was running colleges in Hyderabad and Benguluru when its functional territory was limited to the purview of
Andhra University areas.
The bench of chief justice T B Radhakrishnan and Justice V Ramasubramanian posed a series of questions on the validity of the permissions obtained by Gitam from the University Grants Commission (UGC) without approval from the Union ministry of human resources development (MHRD) while dealing with a petition filed by Gitam challenging the fresh rules introduced by AICTE, which wants private colleges to obtain permissions afresh for each of the courses and campuses they run.
Gitam's counsel Rudra Prasad told the bench that they were challenging the new AICTE norms as they had attained "deemed university status" and need not obtain approval every year. He also furnished UGC's 2007 notification in this regard on Wednesday as directed by the court.
When the Gitam counsel said they obtained permission from UGC for their Bengaluru and Hyderabad campuses, the bench said UGC's decisions can always be overruled by the Centre.
"How does UGC get control over this superlative area when the private college obtains permission for one area and sets up shop all over India? The concept of deemed varsities has no sanction from the Constitution.
AICTE counsel K Ramakanth Reddy told the bench that even this notification makes it mandatory for Gitam to obtain AICTE's nod .
"As SC has asked all the aggrieved deemed varsities to approach Delhi HC, we too will approach it," the Gitam counsel said. The bench closed the writ petition after recording the submission of Gitam counsel.
Representative image
