Tuesday, Mar 09, 2010
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday extended its interim order of status quo on the Centre's move to de-recognise 44 deemed universities on the basis of the Tandon Committee report. A Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Patnaik asked these universities to file their response in two weeks to the affidavit submitted by the Centre accepting in principle the committee's recommendations for initiating further action against them, and granted two weeks thereafter for filing a rejoinder. Final hearing is listed for April 13. Allaying apprehensions, Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati, who appeared for the Centre, said the institutions would be given copies of the report on the basis of which they were sought to be de-recognised, a show-cause notice would be issued individually and only after getting their replies would appropriate orders be passed in each case. The Bench was hearing a petition filed by advocate Viplav Sharma seeking regulation of deemed universities. The reports of the Task Force and review committees were filed by the government in a sealed cover.