Approval Of UGC & AICTE Mandatory For Institutions Intending To Offer B.Tech Through Distance Learning Mode: SC [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court has reiterated that it mandatory for institutions intending to impart technical courses through distance learning mode to seek approval and recognition of University Grants Commission and All India Council for Technical Education.

The bench comprising Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Sanjiv Khanna dismissed a writ petition filed by 92 persons who had prayed for directing the University Grants Commission to issue a clarification that the degrees of Bachelor of Technology acquired by them through open and distance learning mode from the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala are valid, recognised and should be treated at par with degrees granted to regular students who have undertaken such courses in TIET, Patiala and other recognised universities. (Vinit Garg vs. UGC)

The court noted that, admittedly, approval of the AICTE was not obtained by TIET, Patiala, which was held mandatory in judgment in Orissa Lift Irrigation Corporation Limited v. Rabi Sankar Patro and Others. The court further observed that B.Tech. degrees could not have been awarded through distance learning mode without the approval of the DEC and without any specific approval of the AICTE and UGC and award of such degrees without approval of the three were invalid and cannot be recognise.

While dismissing the writ petition, the bench, referring to its judgment in Orissa Lift Irrigation Corporation Limited, further observed:

The said order, the Court noted, had definitively vested the UGC and AICTE, among other statutory regulators, with powers to regulate technical courses imparted through distance learning mode and made it mandatory for institutions intending to impart such courses to seek their approval and recognition 

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