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Order 16/02/2022 The petitioner who was working as a Lecturer with the respondent-Engineering College sought permission from the College to pursue the M.Tech. (Weekend programme) conducted by Mewar University, Chittorgarh. The said course was a course based on a weekend programme for a period of two years to be conducted in four semesters. The permission for pursuing the said weekend programme was granted by the College and in the year 2012, the petitioner completed the said course. After the completion of the course, degree was granted to her for the Course and the petitioner moved a representation to the College for inclusion of her said M.Tech. degree in her service book. As (2 of 6) [CW-18994/2018] there was a discrepancy regarding the period of the course and as to whether a weekend programme would be a recognized course by the University, a clarification was sought by the Registrar of the MLV University from the Registrar of the Mewar University. To the said communication dated 26.02.2013 of the Registrar, a response vide letter dated 28.02.2013 was given by the Registrar of the Mewar University, wherein it was clarified that the M.Tech. Course pursued by the petitioner was a regular degree course but it was designed in a manner that the classes were held on weekends so that the working persons could also apply. It was further clarified that the petitioner had attended more than 80% of the classes which was scheduled on the weekends. Further, it was certified that the course was completed in five months and the average of total credit hours was 250 hours per semester. Not satisfied with the said clarification, a clarification was sought by the University from the UGC also regarding the M.Tech. degree of the petitioner. The response vide letter dated 01.08.2013 was sent by the UGC and it was clarified that the M.Tech. degree is valid if the course had been conducted in regular mode at the main campus of the University and as per the norms and standards prescribed by AICTE.

Per contra, the sole ground raised by the counsel for the respondents is that the petitioner had sought permission from the (4 of 6) [CW-18994/2018] University for a weekend programme whereas the degree submitted by her pertains to a full time course. Counsel argued that the course undertaken by the petitioner was a full time course for which the permission was not sought and hence the degree cannot be accepted by the University. Counsel further argued that the University is bound by the decision taken by the BOG and cannot act in contravention to the same.

Heard counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record.

The ground as raised by the counsel for the respondents that the permission sought by the petitioner was for a weekend programme whereas the degree obtained by her is of a full time course falls flat because of the following reasons:-

(i) The clarification as supplied by the Mewar University, Chittorgarh specifically mentioned that the course was a regular degree course but it was specifically designed for the working people and the classes were conducted on weekends. The time span of the course was extended from a period of three months of a semester to five months of a semester so that the required total number of working hours could be completed. The response as given by the Dean of the Mewar University, Chittorgarh reads as under:-

"1) Although the Mtech course for session 2009-

11 was regular degree course but we designed its classes on weekend(Saturday & Sunday) so that the working person can also apply on this thus we named it as Weekend Program and we made our time table according to that. Mrs sarita chauhan has attended more than 80% classes which was scheduled on Saturday & Sunday.

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