Anti-corruption Law Covers Deemed Universities | 29 Apr 2020

The Supreme Court has held that bribery and corruption in a deemed university can be tried under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

It has said that individuals, authorities connected to a deemed university come under the definition of ‘public servant’ and can be tried and punished under the anti-corruption law.

The Supreme Court observed that the officials of a deemed university do not perform any less of a public duty than their counterparts in other universities.
Deemed universities come within the ambit of the term ‘university’ in Section 2(c)(xi) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988.
- A deemed institution under the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act of 1956 has the same common public duty like a university to confer academic degrees, which are recognised in the society.
The object of the PC Act was not only to prevent the social evil of bribery and corruption, but also to make the same applicable to individuals who might conventionally not be considered public servants.

Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988

Section 2(c)(xi) of the Prevention of Corruption Act states that a “public servant” includes “any person who is a vice-chancellor or member of any governing body, professor, reader, lecturer or any other teacher or employee, by whatever designation called, of any university.

Deemed University

The status of deemed-to-be-university is awarded in accordance with the Section 3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, 1956.
An Institution of Higher Education, other than universities, working at a very high standard in a specific area of study, can be declared by the Central Government on the advice of the UGC as an Institution ‘deemed-to-be-university’.
Institutions that are ‘deemed-to-be-university’ enjoy academic status and privileges of a university.