Are UGC Guidelines Binding On University Not Receiving Govt Grants? Supreme Court To Decide

The Supreme Court recently asked the petitioner Madurai Kamaraj University and the Madurai Kamaraj University Constituent College and the respondent University Grant Commission(UGC) to file affidavit as to whether the petitioner University is receiving funds from the UGC or the State/Central Government.

It has also asked the parties to specify whether the UGC Guidelines are mandatory or merely directly in nature, as also binding on the petitioner University.

To briefly state, the petitioner University has challenged the Madras High Court's order dated November 22, 2024, whereby the High Court held that the petitioner is bound by the UGC Guidelines.

The litigation began with a writ petition filed by the Guest Lecturer (Respondent 1) to teach B.Sc. (Physics), who sought that the petitioner University should apply the UGC Guidelines dated February 2010 in the context of Guest Lecturer/Part Time Teacher and to fix his honorarium to Rs. 1000/hour with a maximum of Rs. 25,000 per month. The Guest Lecturer was being paid Rs. 125 per hour and maximum Rs. 10,000 per month.

The single judge ordered that the University is bound to pay the honorarium as applicable to the 'Guest Lecturer' under the UGC Guidelines. This was challenged by the petitioner University in a writ appeal before the division bench of the High Court. It has argued that neither the State legislation nor the University has formally adopted the UGC Regulations and therefore should not be bound by it. Whereas, the Respondents(UGC and the Guest Lecturer), argued that even if the same were not formally adopted, it would be bound by the UGC Regulations.

The division bench held that the petitioner University is bound by the UGC Guidelines and if they refuse to follow, it could invite derecognition from the UGC. This order was challenged by the University in the Supreme Court.

A bench comprising Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice AG Masih heard the matter on January 13. It asked the parties to file affidavit on whether in the absence of the petitioner University receiving any funds from UGC or State/Central government, would the directions issued by the Court in Praneeth K. v. University Grants Commission(2021) would be applicable. In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the UGC's Guidelines issued during COVID to colleges, universities and institutions of higher education to conduct final year/terminal semester examination before September 30, 2020.

The matter is listed to be heard on January 28.

Case Details: THE MADURAI KAMARAJ UNIVERSITY & ANR. v A.R. NAGARAJAN & ANR.| Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s).7130/2025

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Appearances: For Petitioner(s) : Mr. S. Nagamuthu, Sr. Adv. Mr. M.p. Parthiban, AOR Ms. Priyaranjani Nagamuthu, Adv. Mr. Bilal Mansoor, Adv. Mr. Shreyas Kaushal, Adv. Mr. S. Geyolin Selvam, Adv. Mr. Alagiri K, Adv. Mr. Shivansh Sharma, Adv. Mr. Abhishek S, Adv.

For Respondent(s) :Mr. KM. Vignesh Ram, Adv. Mr. Akshita Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Naveen Raj, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, AOR Mr. Manoj Ranjan Sinha, Adv. Mr. Vishal Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Mrigank Prabhakar, AOR Ms. Astha Singh, Adv. Ms. Anwesha Saha, AOR Mr. Salim Ansari, Adv. Mr. Nitish Shani, Adv Mr. K.M. Vignesh Ram, Adv. Mr. Vidushi Pandey, Adv. Mr. Akshita Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Subham Bahuguna, Adv. Mr. Naveen Raj, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, AOR Mr. Himanshu Kumar, Adv.