Engineers with distance edu degrees face axe

Chandigarh, January 21

Hundreds of engineers serving in the Haryana Government may lose jobs or promotions as, acting on a Supreme Court order, Chief Secretary DS Dhesi has written to various departments for action against those possessing degrees of deemed universities under distance mode.

The Supreme Court had on November 3 last year upheld the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling that a BTech degree obtained through distance education could not be considered on a par with a regular degree awarded by a university to students attending campus classes.

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“Old degrees in engineering granted to students who were enrolled during academic session 2001-2005 shall stand suspended till they pass such an examination to be held under joint supervision of the All India Council for Technical Education and the University Grants Commission, as the grant of ex post facto approval to the deemed university has been held to be incorrect and illegal,” says the Chief Secretary order.

It adds that the students enrolled during 2001 to 2005 shall be given two chances to clear the examination and in case they fail to get through, they will be removed from jobs or the benefits of promotion will be withdrawn.

In case of employees who were enrolled in degrees or diplomas after 2001-2005, their services will be terminated with immediate effect and any promotion given on the basis of such degree, it will stand withdrawn.

The order  says the apex court has restrained all deemed universities from offering courses in distance mode from academic session 2018-19 onwards unless and until it is permissible to conduct course under distance mode and specific permission has been granted.

Petitioner Kartar Singh, a Sirsa-based school lecturer, said thousands had got jobs or promotions in the state based on BTech degrees that were being awarded without any classroom studies or practical. — TNS