Supreme Court says UGC Regulations 2016 exempting Ph.D. holders from NET qualification would apply retrospectively

Supreme Court says UGC Regulations 2016 exempting Ph.D. holders from NET qualification would apply retrospectively

Last Updated Aug - 18 - 2022, 01:56 PM | Source : The FELA | Live Law | Visitors : 199

The Supreme Court said that the UGC Regulations 2016 would be applied retrospectively. A Bench comprising Justice reiterated that when an amendment is merely cl

New Delhi: The Supreme Court said that the UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Career Advancement of Teachers in Universities and Institutions Affiliated to lt) Regulations, 2016 would be applied retrospectively, on Wednesday. Relying on the catena judgments, a Bench comprising Justice U.U Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat, and Sudhanshu Dhulia reiterated that when an amendment is merely clarificatory in nature it ought to have retrospective application.

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“When an enactment or amendment is declaratory, curative or clarificatory, impelled by a felt need to make clear what was always intended, such amendment is usually meant to operate from an antecedent date or to cover antecedent events.”

As per the UGC Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Career Advancement of Teachers in Universities and Institutions Affiliated to It) Regulations, 2000 (UGR 2000) to be appointed as a lecturer in a university passing National Eligibility Test (NET) was mandatory. However, it exempted candidates who had acquired M.Phil or submitted a Ph.D. thesis by 31.12.1993 from taking NET. The UGCR 2000 was amended a couple of times but retained such an exemption.

By way of the UGCR 2009, NET was made the minimum stipulation for the appointment of lecturer. The candidates who acquired a Ph.D. in compliance with UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M. Phil / Ph.D. Degree) Regulations 2009 (Ph.D. Regulations, 2009 (Ph.D. Regulations, 2009) were exempted from qualifying NET.

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The UGCR 2009 was again amended in 2010, but the exemption with respect to the Ph.D. Regulations, 2009 was still in place. This gave way to a lot of confusion, as it was being interpreted to mean that Ph.D. holders who were awarded Ph.D. prior to the coming into force of the UGCR 2009 were disentitled to claim exemption from qualifying NET. In this backdrop, UGCR was subsequently amended in 2016 and 2018 with the intention to clarify that both pre-2009 and post-2009 Ph.D. holders would be exempted from qualifying NET.

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