Supreme Court To Consider Plea To Review NAAC Gradings Of Colleges/Universities In Last 5 Years

The Supreme Court yesterday (April 9) issued notice in a PIL seeking measures to ensure fair and transparent grading by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council ("NAAC")  of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

The bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a plea filed by an NGO, Bistro Destino Foundation.

As per the plea, concerns have been raised over the transparency of the grading process by NAAC. It stated that "an audit done by GAG in March 2023 revealed glaring discrepancies in NAAC's assessment processes."

Referring to the resignation of NAAC Chairman in 2023 and the issue of malpractices by universities raised by him, the petition further states: 

" In March 2023, the NAAC Chairman Mr.Bhushan Patwardhan resigned from the post of Chairman on the ground of universities using malpractices to receive 'questionable grades'. In his resignation letter as per the news reports, he stated, "Based on my experience, various complaints from the stakeholders, and review committee reports, I had expressed my apprehensions earlier about the possibility of vested interests, malpractices, and nexus among the persons concerned, offering thereby a green corridor by presumably manipulating ICT, DVV (Data Validation and Verification) and PTV (Peer team visit) processes leading to the awarding of questionable grades to some HEIs"

Notably, the NAAC accreditation process involved several elaborate steps for grading HEIs. These include Annual Quality Assurance Report ("AQAR") by HEIs, containing key institutional data; the submission of the Institutional Information for Quality Assessment ("IIQA") form, along with necessary approvals from the UGC, Ministry of Education,or affiliating universities; and the submission of a Self-Study Report ("SSR"), which provides an exhaustive analysis of the institution's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges.

This is then followed by DVV where institutional data is scrutinized through a software-based process, and clarifications are sought if required. The task is outsourced to external agencies. The Peer Team visit is then conducted by a team of academicians, who evaluate the institution and submit a report that contributes to the final accreditation grade. The cumulative grade is determined based on 70% weightage from the DW process and 30% from the Peer Team evaluation, following which the final accreditation status is approved by NAAC's Executive Council.

CBI Probe Into Corrupt Practices By NAAC Officials : 

The petition flagged the issue of lapses and corruption within the NAAC as the CBI initiated its probe on February 1, 2025 against NAAC officials for accepting bribes for better grading. 

"On 01.02.2025 the CBI registered a FIR No. RC2182025A0002 against NAAC officials and certain educational institutions for accepting bribes in exchange for favorable accreditation scores. The bribes reportedly included cash payments, gold, mobile phones and laptops highlighting the transactional nature of the accreditation process. Consequently, NAAC removed over 900 assessors without conducting re-assessments of the institutions evaluated by them."

It underlined the alleged arbitrary reduction in grading that NAAC officials gave to some HEIs without giving them a fair hearing.

"Further, NAAC arbitrarily initiated a re-DVV process (after the first DVV process ended) for several institutions, reducing their previously awarded scores without affording them any opportunity of hearing to them. The absence of transparency in the NAAC assessment process has led to widespread uncertainty regarding its credibility and fairness."

The following reliefs are sought by the petitioner : 

a. Issue appropriate Writ, Order or Direction directing Respondent No.1 (NAAC) or Committee appointed by this Hon'ble Court to establish a fair and transparent process for its assessment and grading of Higher Education Institutions in India; AND

b. Issue appropriate Writ, Order or Direction directing the constitution of a Committee to scrutinize and check Respondent No.l's assessments and gradings done of Higher Education Institutions in India in the last 5 years and submit its report to this Hon'ble Court; AND

c. Issue appropriate Writ, Order or Direction quashing the grades awarded by Respondent No.l which have been awarded after assessment / re-assessment without affording any opportunity of hearing to the Higher Education Institutions; AND

d. Issue appropriate Writ, Order or Direction directing Respondent No. 1 to re-assess the gradings of the Higher Education Institutions where the reports were examined/submitted by the assessors who were recently removed by Respondent No.l; AND

e. Grant such other reliefs as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in light of the facts and circumstances of the case.

The PIL was filed with the assistance of AOR Manan Verma. 

Case Details : Nostro Destina Foundation v. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council & Or | WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO . 256 OF 2025