Orissa Lift Irrigation Corp. Ltd. vs Rabi Sankar Patro

 Orissa Lift Irrigation Corp. Ltd. vs Rabi Sankar Patro - Supreme Court Important Judgment 2017 - 

 

On 3rd November, 2017, in the case of Orissa Lift Irrigation Corp. Ltd. v. Rabi Sankar Patro & Ors. [Civil Appeal Nos. 17869-17870 of 2017], it was observed that “commercialization of education seriously affects creditability of standards in education, eroding power and essence of knowledge and seriously affecting excellence and merit”.

The Supreme Court stated that the present case displayed “lack of effective oversight and regulatory mechanism for the Deemed to be Universities” and that the UGC had completely failed to remedy the situation” and thus, interest of justice requires that the following issues also need to be addressed: “(i) Action for failure of system, inter alia, on account of misconduct of some of the functionaries who failed to uphold the law and granted approvals contrary to the policy and the rules; (ii) Manning of the UGC; (iii) Appropriate oversight and regulatory mechanism especially for distance education degrees especially those relating to technical education by the Deemed to be Universities in future; (iv) Review of the Deemed to be Universities status granted to the Deemed to be Universities in the past in the light of this Judgment and in the light of their working.”

While observing that the above issues need immediate steps to be taken by the Union of India” and that “review of oversight and regulatory mechanism is of utmost priority for the future of technical and professional education at the hands of Deemed Universities”, various directions were issued by the Supreme Court.