A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, comprising Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and B. Krishna Mohan, has directed Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) in Tirupati to file an affidavit in three weeks making clear its position on the charge that it has given affiliation to 134 unqualified private colleges in Chittoor district.
The petitioner, B. Doraswamy, a journalist based at Nallepalli village of Chittoor district, contended in a PIL that SVU had provided affiliation to unqualified colleges in violation of Rule 9(1) of the SVU Statute, UGC Regulations-2018, and G.O. Ms. No. 14 dated February 13, 2019.
Appearing on his behalf, advocate J. Sravan Kumar said the matter warranted the constitution of a special investigation team to find out whether SVU had committed the irregularity purportedly under pressure from some political bigwigs.
Consequent to the grant of illegal affiliation, the colleges had gained undue advantage of fee reimbursement under the ‘Jagananna Vasathi Deevena’ and the ‘Jagananna Vidya Deevena’ schemes. The institutions also lacked the required infrastructure, it was alleged.