Delhi HC asks UGC to issue NET Certificate to M.Phil qualified candidate

NEW DELHI, APRIL 11: The Delhi High Court has asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to issue National Eligibility Test (NET) Certificate to a candidate who was denied on the ground for completing her Masters Degree in one year from a foreign University but later completed M.Phil from Jawaharlal Nehru University, thus obtaining a higher degree to become eligible for the NET.

The High Court while delivering the judgment observed that canceling her qualification has arbitrarily denied the fruits of the NET, which she has duly qualified.

It asked the UGC to forthwith issue the NET certificate to the Petitioner thus allowing her to process the pending application for lectureship by considering her NET result.

The Curious Case of NET eligibility

The Petitioner, Diksha Lamba after acquiring a B.A. (Hons.) degree from Hans Raj College, Delhi University, obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Leeds, in the year 2009. Based on her Master’s Degree she was given provisional admission in the JNU in 2011 in M.Phil programme.

During her M.Phil Lamba appeared for the NET in December 2012 as was declared passed as per the results announced March 2013 and she also successfully obtained her M.Phil degree on in August 2014 from JNU and submitted her documents to the UGC.

However, she was not given a certificate for having qualified the NET and the UGC informed that her that her result was cancelled after three years, on the ground that she did not fulfill the eligibility criteria for the said examination, since her Master’s degree from the University of Leeds was not equivalent to a corresponding degree from a recognized Indian university as per the rules of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).

When she approached AIU she was informed that since the Subject Degree was only for a duration of one year, as compared to the two-year duration of a corresponding degree from a recognized Indian university, the former could not be granted an equivalence certificate by the UGC due its deficiency in terms of duration.

However, earlier when she had approached the AIU in this regard she was informed that it was the admission-giving university’s prerogative to decide the issue of her admission as per their own rules and regulations.

After her certificate was cancelled by the UGC, she approached the Delhi HC as she had to apply for lecturer’s post at the University of Delhi.

The Court while delivering the Judgement ruled, “The Petitioner's M.Phil degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, which is admittedly a duly recognized Indian university, is a higher qualification than a master's degree and cannot be ignored. If a master's degree is the minimum eligibility

qualification for the NET, then a candidate with a higher qualification degree would also be eligible for the NET. Therefore, in my considered opinion, the Petitioner's M.Phil degree, which is a higher qualification than a master's degree, made her eligible for the NET.”