Sonde Committee report on Amity University
In case of Amity University, an Inspection was done under the aegis of the University Grants Commission under the powers conferred to it under sections 12 and 13 of the UGC Act 1956. It was conducted between 15 to 18 July 2009 by an Expert Committee under the leadership of Prof B S Sonde, Former Vice-Chancellor, Goa University. This team submitted its report along with 23 deficiencies and 16 recommendations to UGC I present some of the major deficiencies narrated by this Expert Committee which can be found on Page 17 to 19 of the Report- 1. University Academic and Administrative structure not fully as per the University Act 2. No faculties established 3. Methods of designation of Schools/ Institutes/ Centers not rationalized 4. Number of students admitted to some courses too large, e.g.- International business, Biotechnology 5. Off Campus center set up by the University in the State and outside the State, does not seem to empower them 6. Reservation policy not followed in recruitment of faculty/ non-teaching staff and also in student’s admissions 7. Immoveable property not in the name of the University, only in the name of the Sponsoring Society 8. No notified policy on fee structure and student intake 9. Distance Education Programmes conducted in professional subjects without the approval of UGC-AICTE-DEC Joint Committee 10. Much importance given for moderation of examination results, that may lead to doubts on the fairness of the system This is followed by the recommendations under page 19 to 22. Important ones are- 1. Not to contravene UGC Act and UGC Regulations, as Off Campus center set up by the University in the State and outside the State is not in order 2. Refrain from using the brand name AMITY too liberally for any other University/ College set up by the Society 3. Formally transfer all the immoveable assets in the name of the University from the name of Sponsoring Society 4. Approval of Bar Council needs to be revalidated for Amity Law College, which was affiliated to Meerut University before Amity University was born 5. Not desirable to have curriculum too broad and lacking depth 6. Follow the Reservation policy expeditiously 7. University needs to have an open and transparent operation in all its programmes and activities like student admission, fixing fees, faculty recruitment etc. This report was presented before UGC on its 465th meeting under item 5.30. Finally a letter was sent to the Registrar, Amity University on 17/11/2009 to get a Compliance report to UGC latest by 31/03/2010. As per the information obtained by the National RTI Forum under the RTI Act, no such Compliance report has been sent so far. Let us hope the Report is complied with soon and corrective measures taken because this is a matter that is related with lakhs of innocent students whose life is completely dependent of the legal and administrative position of this and other such “Private” Universities. The only problem is that if the Amity University simply ignores to do any corrective measures as recommended in the Expert team, the UGC cannot do much because Amity being a private University does not get grants from UGC anyway and that is the greatest leverage that UGC has over any University. At the same time, National RTI Forum would also like to profusely thank Sri Radhe Shyam and Sri Mahendra Pratap from Project Vijay who have done a lot of work on Amity University to bring out so many important facts about the Amity University to the general public. Dr Nutan Thakur, Convener, National RTI Forum, Lucknow # 94155-34525
