NEW DELHI: After more than three months of extensive videotaped scrutiny of 130 deemed universities, HRD ministry's review committee report, sources said, has labelled many of these institutions as being run like private limited family-run companies.

The report, to be finalised on Monday, has gone into each aspect of deemed universities and pointed out institution-wise irregularities. However, the final decision on taking action is being left to HRD minister Kapil Sibal. "Our brief is to give the factual position and not recommend action. We have highlighted inadequacies that UGC's review report does not state," a source said.

But HRD's report may turn out to be a whitewash since any action by the ministry can be countered by the deemed varsities through the clean chit they have got from the UGC panel. They can point out that as per the law, deemed status is given by the ministry on UGC's recommendation. Sources claimed that asking UGC to review its own action was a ploy by a section in the ministry to shift the focus away from the way the ministry and UGC were at one time hand in glove in giving the deemed status.

In case of private deemed universities, the biggest inadequacy, the report says, is the manner in which they have started study centres all over India. "Deemed universities of South have study centres in Delhi and UP with hundreds of students being taught by irregular faculty. Distance education has become a money making exercise. This has come about due to loopholes in the UGC guidelines and is in contravention of regulations," an official said.

Sources said most private deemed universities in South India and in UP are in appalling condition and do not deserve the status. "The fee and administrative structure of private deemed universities is totally unregulated. The report focuses on this aspect and states it in each case where it is unregulated," the official said.

The report points out instances of how a few days before making a presentation before the committee, non-family members were brought in as vice-chancellors. In some cases, when the committee asked who the VC was earlier, names of promoters' relatives came out. "There were many instances of family members making presentations on behalf of universities," the official said.

The research output of most of the private deemed varsities, the report says, is sub-standard and does not find a place in SCOPUS, the largest abstract and citation database which covers 16,500 peer-reviewed journals. An official said during the presentations, representatives of many varsities did not know about SCOPUS.

The report also finds fault with government-run deemed universities, especially their administrative structure. "The report says many of them lack clarity," an official said.

The report categorises deemed universities into three groups. The first consists of universities with excellent facilities, the second has institutions that meet all requirements, and the last those which have been found lacking in many aspects. It has also criticised regulatory bodies like AICTE, UGC and NCTE for lack of coordination resulting in deemed universities exploiting the loopholes.

-- TOI