MUMBAI TOI NEWS :- Gujarat colleges can't seek SNDT tie-up

MUMBAI TOI NEWS
The dream of prominent Mumbai-based SNDT Women's University to extend its wings beyond geographical boundaries has now been curtailed. A recent Gujarat high court order has directed colleges there not to seek affiliation from a Maharashtra university. The repercussions for the Mumbai-based varsity may be grave as a lot of funding and other factors depend on the number of affiliated colleges a university has.

In the order passed last week, which can be used as precedent by other states, the court said the 'university has no control over the colleges within Gujarat even after being affiliated and therefore the state should not grant permissions to colleges to get affiliated with SNDT'. Of the 240 affiliated colleges of the university, more than 100 are in Gujarat. While the order is not clear on what happens to the existing affiliated colleges, colleges in Gujarat are already worried about losing their affiliation. The court, however, observed, "We are not inclined to give any specific finding on the question of de-affiliation of any college, as sought for by the writ petitioner, though it will be open to the petitioner to bring the facts to the notice of the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, as alleged in the present case".While seeking an affiliation from a university outside the state, the institutions require a no-objection certificate (NOC) from their state government. The division bench of Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhyaya and Justice J B Pardiwala set aside the petition by B Ed colleges whose request for NOC was denied by the Gujarat government. Though the court upheld the provision in the Maharashtra Universities Act, which allows the university to have affiliated institutions outside Maharashtra, they have set aside the request of NOCs.

Nitin Deshpande, the special counsel who was representing Maharashtra, said, "The provision in the Maharashtra Universities Act 105 (2) which allows SNDT to grant affiliation to a college outside the state, with the approval of the state government concerned has been upheld." The state government was made party to the case to explain the provision.

Vasudha Kamat, the vice-chancellor of the university, said, "The judgment in question restricts itself to colleges in Gujarat seeking affiliation and does not relate to colleges already affiliated with SNDT Women's University. The future course of action will be decided only after careful consideration of all the aspects of the judgment by our legal experts."

A university official said the officials are still reading the order and would organize a press conference soon to clear the issue and to explain their stand.

A senior professor from the university said, "This will affect the university considering Gujarat is a potential state for growth of the university's colleges." When contacted, the Maharashtra governor's office claimed that they are yet to go through the order.