Deemed-to-be varsities don’t need NOC for agricultural courses

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday vacated the stay against the Tamil Nadu government order mandating deemed-to-be universities to obtain No Objection Certificate (NoC) for conducting agriculture courses.

The first bench of Chief Justice AP Sahi and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy in its interim order permitted the universities to proceed with the admission for the current academic year. However, the court made it clear that such admissions are subject to the outcome of petitions challenging the condition.

The High Court granted the reprieve on the plea moved by the institutions against the government order (GO) on July 28, 2020. The order had also restrained the institutions from admitting students to the courses until they obtain NOC from the State.

On September 29, a single judge stayed the operation of the GO, after the petitioners objected that the plea was related to a constitutional subject and it had to be transferred to the division bench dealing with the portfolio. The single judge directed the High court registry to tag the cases with other similar pending cases and place it before the Chief Justice.

Advocate-General Vijay Narayan submitted that several institutions promoting agriculture courses have come up in the past few years and that is the primary reason for the GO. He further said that the GO would not cause any hindrance to students who are already admitted. The adjourned the plea by six weeks for next hearing.