Disposing off 15 clubbed petitions, Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir rejected the plea of the petitioners to treat degrees obtained through distance mode equivalent to those obtained after attending regular classes.
"It is shocking to observe the manner in which the post graduate degrees have been conferred on the students...All the writ petitions are held to be without any merit, and are, therefore, dismissed," Justice Mir said in the eight-page order.
"The petitioners, who are before this Court, seeking direction in the name of respondents to give due weightage to their higher qualifications...Indeed want this Court to put its seal on the said illegal act," he said in the order passed recently.
Degrees awarded by IGNOU, DOEACC and Maulana Azad National Urdu University's (MANUU) have been held valid.
Official sources said that the order of the High Court is going to affect hundreds of government employees in Jammu and Kashmir as they have gained employment or promotions based on the qualifications obtained through distance mode.
In some cases, degrees have been obtained from institutions which are not even recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the sources said. (MORE)
