Education Alert - January 2013

Education Alert

This newsletter has been prepared by Sarthak Advocates & Solicitors and is being provided to the recipient solely for the purpose of his/her/its information. It is meant to be merely an informative summary and should not be treated as a substitute for considered legal advice. This update covers significant legal developments in the field of higher and school education in India during the month of January, 2013, including judgments, laws and notifications issued by courts and the regulatory bodies, as applicable. If you wish to receive more information about any content of this newsletter, please feel free to contact:

High Court Cases

1.               Amit Rahi v. Jawaharlal Nehru University & Ors., decided on January 17, 2013 by the Delhi High Court.

Facts:

The appellant had obtained a M.Sc. in biotechnology degree from the respondent university with a cumulative grade point average (“CGPA”) of 5.59. He had applied to and was denied admission to the Ph.D. (Biotechnolog) program run by the respondent university. The respondent university contended that the appellant did not meet the criteria for admission to the doctoral program which was "Masters Degree with final grade point average (“FGPA”) of 6.00 in the 10 point scale/comparable standard or equivalent percentage."  The student contended that he is eligible for admission as the CGPA secured by him of 5.59 is on a 9 point scale and if the same is to be equated on a 10 point scale, he meets the eligibility condition of FGPA of 6. The single judge dismissed the petition of the appellant, holding him short of the eligibility criteria and further stated that the appellant cannot derive any advantage from the fact that the grading had been done out of 9 point as Grade 1 to 10 is equivalent to Grade 0 to 9 and thus it cannot be said that 5.0 on a scale of 9 is equivalent to 60 or 6 points out of 10.

Ruling and Order:

The High Court dismissed the appeal and held that the academic authorities of the respondent university are the best judge to decide whether the CGPA of 5.59 secured by the appellant is equivalent to the FGPA of 6 on a 10 point scale. Since the university specifically contended that 0 to 9 is also a 10 point scale, the scope of the Court interfering with such decisions on academic matters of the academic experts of the university is limited. It was further held that the decisions of the university were not so arbitrary or whimsical, so as to invite interference by the Court as the concerned authorities of the university have taken a consistent stand that the equalization as sought to be done by the appellant is not valid.

2.                  Social Jurist v. Government of NCT of Delhi, W.P.(Civil) 2931 of 2012 (Still Pending)

Social Jurist has filed a public interest litigation challenging the validity of two notifications issued by the Ministry of Human Resources Development and the Directorate of Education, Delhi giving powers to unaided private schools to formulate their own admission criteria. Based on the proceedings in the high court, the respondents had inter alia, argued that Section 13 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 is not applicable at the pre-primary stage and hence unaided schools are free to develop their own criteria for admission.

The Delhi High Court has reserved judgment in this case and directed that that no school can undertake nursery admission for the academic session 2013-14 until the court decides on the issue. The Court, reserving its order, made it clear that the order on the PIL would also be applicable on nursery admission for the ensuing academic session 2013-14.

REGULATIONS

1.         Minutes of UGC meeting regarding the issue of pursing more than one degree simultaneously and joint degree programme

The UGC has decided to permit students to pursue more than one degree simultaneously. To this end, it has circulated the minutes of its meeting to the vice chancellors of various universities for seeking their comments prior to taking a final decision thereon.

The minutes circulated by the UGC state that a student enrolled in a degree programme under regular mode may be allowed to pursue a maximum of one additional degree programme simultaneously under open/distance mode from the same or a different university. A similar decision was also taken in case a student wanted to pursue a certificate/diploma/advanced diploma/PG diploma programme simultaneously. However, it was felt that permitting students to pursue two degrees at the same time through regular mode may create logistical and administrative hurdles.

In case of joint degree programs (that is, degree programs offered jointly by two universities) it was held that nothing prohibited universities to permit their students to take and complete a part of their programme of studies from any other recognised universities. Interested universities may make necessary enabling ordinances specifying details and procedures in this regards and may sign memorandum of understanding to execute the award of joint degrees.

2.         One year LLM degree program Guidelines

The UGC, vide its letter D. O. No.5-1/99(CPP-II) dated January 18, 2013, circulated the Guidelines for Introduction of One Year LL.M degree programme, 2012 (“Guidelines”), to the vice chancellors of various universities. The Universities fulfilling the Guidelines may take appropriate action to switch over to one year LL.M programme without compromising on quality and standards. The one year LL.M programme may be introduced from the academic year 2013-14 in all universities established or incorporated in accordance with provisions of the UGC Act, 1956 and all institutions by or affiliated to such universities.

These Guidelines inter alia provide for the following:

§               Every university, proposing to start a 1 year LL.M program, shall establish a Centre for Post-Graduate  Legal Studies which will have a dedicated team of senior teachers competent to guide post-graduate scholars including Ph. D. Students.

§               The ratio of students admitted to LL.M to the availability of Professors / Associate Professor should be not more than 5 students to one Professor / Associate Professor.

§              Admission to one-year LL.M Degree shall be done through an All India admission test conducted every year by the universities individually or by a group of universities collectively. The Admissions Test will be for 70% of total marks of the test and the rest of 30% will be equally distributed on the basis of work experience, publications, and statement of purpose.

§     The programme is to be organized on a trimester basis ensuring at least twelve weeks of teaching/research/practical in each trimester.

§                    The one year LL.M programme shall have 24 credits with three mandatory courses of 3 credits each (making a total of nine credits), six optional courses of 2 credits each (making a total of 12 credits) and a dissertation of 3 credits which can be increased up to 5 credits.

§                    A university may offer a specialised LL.M programme in any one branch of law. In pursuance of this, an annexure has been provided which suggests 6 subject clusters to choose from.

In order to facilitate the switching over from existing 2 year LLM programme to one year LLM Programme, the UGC would suitably amend the UGC (Minimum Standards of Instruction for the grant of the Master’s Degree Through Formal Education) Regulation, 2003.