By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 23 Jul: BJP leader and former President of DAV (PG) College Students’ Union, Vivekananda Khanduri has written letters to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging their intervention in the issue of disaffiliation of ten aided colleges from HNB Garhwal Central University.
Khanduri has reminded that the affiliation of 10 private state-aided degree colleges of Garhwal Division to the Central University for the academic session 2023-24 had been terminated by the Executive Council of HNB Garhwal Central University. All these degree colleges have been asked to seek affiliation from Sridev Suman University, which is a state university. He pointed out that Sridev Suman University does not have important faculties like that of Law. The Executive Council had further directed removal of the names of these colleges from the website of the Central University.
The affiliation of degree colleges is to be done during the new academic session, commencing 1 July, 2023. Against this “unconstitutional” decision of the Executive Council, the management bodies of some private colleges approached the Uttarakhand High Court. Khanduri reminded that the Nainital High Court had stayed the decision of the Executive Council of the Central University.
However, despite this, the Central University has not issued any clear directions regarding admission of students in these colleges. As a result, the affected colleges are in a state of confusion whether to start the admission process or not. At present, except the colleges affiliated to the Central University, the admission process has started in all other degrees and PG colleges of the state. Now, the Central University has ordered the colleges under it to give admission on the basis of CUET marks. The Central University has not clarified the process under which admission will be done in these colleges.
The second problem is that the graduation examinations are going on in the colleges affiliated to Garhwal University. The admission process can start only after the results of the examinations are out. Those wanting to get admission in these colleges as students of the Central University are now in a dilemma.
Khanduri has asserted that the Executive Council by not issuing clear instructions is violating the decision of the High Court and is in contempt of Court. The High Court has clearly mentioned that the decision to disaffiliate the colleges will be taken neither by the Central Government nor by the State Government of Uttarakhand. Khanduri demanded a high-level inquiry into this matter so that the Executive Council can be made to obey the court orders and issue clear instructions to the colleges concerned regarding the admissions in the new academic session. Khanduri added that, while there is a need to increase the scope of the Central University, in reality, it has been narrowed by the Executive Council by disaffiliating 10 aided colleges. Khanduri felt that the importance of the degrees awarded by the Central University is many times more than that of the State Level University. The degree holder of a Central University is given preference by employers, due to which they get employment opportunities quickly. He added that the incident has led to collapse of the higher education system in Uttarakhand and, because of this, the future of thousands of students is now uncertain. There is a lot of resentment among the students, college administration and parents affected by the unwise decree of the Executive Council.
