‘Anti-graft law covers deemed universities’-THE HINDU-29-04-2020

Details:

A deemed institution under the University Grants Commission Act of 1956 has the same common public duty like a university to confer academic degrees, which are recognised in the society. Officials of a deemed varsity, though not seen as public servants in the conventional sense, perform duties in the discharge of which the State, the public and the community at large has an interest, a three-judge Bench led by Justice N. Ramana reasoned in a judgment pronounced on April 27.

Aim of PC Act:

Keeping the same in mind, it cannot be stated that a deemed university and the officials therein, perform any less or any different a public duty,” Justice Ramana, who authored the main judgment shared with Justice Mohan M. Justice Ajay Rastogi, in his separate but concurring judgment, reiterated that the provisions of the PC Act would cover “all persons who are directly or indirectly actively participating in managing the affairs of any university in any manner or the form.

Gujarat’s appeal:

The judgment came on an appeal filed by the Gujarat government against a trustee of Sumandeep Charitable Trust, which established and sponsors Sumandeep Vidyapeeth, a deemed university. The State police had filed a case in 2017 against the trustee for allegedly demanding Rs20 lakh from the parent of a medical student to write her final examination. The Gujarat High Court had discharged the trustee from the case.