The Delhi High Court has issued notices to the Central government, University Grants Commission, the All India Council of Technical Education and the Indraprastha University.
The notices were issued following a writ petition filed by two students who had applied for the Bachelor of Information Sciences and Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) courses at the Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University.
The writ is against a 31 May, 2001 notification of the University Grants Commission that has changed the nomenclature of the BIS and BIT courses to Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA). The duration of the courses too have been reduced from four to three years.
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The petitioners contend that the notification was issued by the UGC when the students were appearing for the entrance examinations for these courses and there was no option left for them to apply elsewhere.
The two students challenged the UGC notification on the grounds that UGC had no power under the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 to issue such a notification.
Counsel for the petitioners Anees Ahmed submitted that the Indraprastha University had been created by the Indraprastha Vishvavidyalaya Act, 1998 and Section 5(2) of the Act granted it unfettered powers to grant degrees in accordance with its rules and ordinances. The university is an autonomous body and is not funded by the UGC.