HRD Ministry to take up UGC-IIT row with Law Ministry
The University Grants Commission (UGC) Act and, particularly, Section 22 of the Act dealing with 'Right to confer degrees' will be referred for examination to the law ministry to assess its applicability to the IITs.
The Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) is all set to approach the law ministry over the UGC-IIT row regarding the applicability of UGC specifications to IIT degree programmes.
Highly-placed sources confirmed that the MHRD has decided that the UGC Act, 1956 should be referred to the law ministry - a move that could further complicate the matter. The University Grants Commission (UGC) Act and, particularly, Section 22 of the Act dealing with 'Right to confer degrees' will be referred for examination to the law ministry to assess its applicability to the IITs.
The MHRD plans to refer it to the law ministry after the matter is discussed at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the IIT Council (SCIC) on September 12, and later by the IIT Council on September 22. UGC Chairman Ved Prakash, who is a member of the IIT Council, will also attend the Council meet to find a solution to the issue.
India Today was the first to report that the UGC had shot off a missive to 16 IITs asking them to ensure that their degrees are aligned to those recognised by the higher education regulator.
Officials said the only way to resolve the stand-off is to either have the IITs agree to the UGC diktat, or to amend the IIT Act and specify that its provisions override all conflicting provisions in any other Act. The easier way is to simply have the MHRD amend the Rules to the IIT Act, 1961 so that it is made clear that the IIT academic programmes and degrees will be determined solely by the institutes or the IIT Council.
The IITs are autonomous institutes governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 that lays down their powers, duties, framework for governance among others.
They have argued that the UGC Act does not apply to them, with some of them even refusing to take cognizance of the IIT communication. Several IITs may have to restructure or rename their fouryear Bachelors of Science (BS) programmes or dual degree programmes, if the UGC directive is imposed on them.
Incidentally, the MHRD has also backed the UGC on the issue saying that the IITs should try to do away with the mismatch with the UGC on degree specifications.