The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday, in an interim order of stay, prevented the Union Education Ministry and the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) from releasing the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rank list for 2025.

A division bench of Justices J Nisha Banu and S Srimathy disposed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition preferred by Dindigul's C Chellamuthu charging malpractices and transparency deficit in scoring calculations for the rank list.

Chellamuthu, in his petition, averred that the NIRF ranking is determined solely on the basis of the data furnished by the institutions without auditing or verification. He averred that several institutions furnish false data to enhance their ranking to attract students and MNCs.

He furnished comparative reports of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council's (NAAC's) AQAR (Annual Quality Assurance Report) reports and the NIRF reports, uploaded online by certain institutions.

He asserted that the numbers related to the number of PhD students, faculties, R&D funds, consultancy project funds received, etc., are more in the NIRF reports than in the AQAR reports.

'Institutions with poor academic quality and infrastructure receive top rankings'

Since the AQAR reports are cross-checked by NAAC's professional committees, the inconsistencies in NIRF data indicate that institutions have manipulated their submissions to get higher rankings, Chellamuthu asserted. This, he charged, enables institutions with inferior academic quality and infrastructure to get top rankings, while several renowned state universities are left out. He cautioned that such manipulation could damage the quality of higher education in the nation.

The petitioner implored the court to order the Union Ministry and NBA to release NIRF rankings—which evaluate educational institutions across the country—only after strict verification and complete disclosure of the scoring process.

After considering the data provided, the bench made an interim order. The government advocate asked for time to file a counter affidavit, and the case was listed for April 24.

The Kerala High Court has rationalized the application of cane in schools and held that a pre-inquiry is a must before registering any criminal case against a teacher in relation to their conduct in a school or college in order to preserve discipline, and good student behaviour.

Believing in the adage 'spare the rod and spoil the child', Justice P V Kunhikrishnan said: “Let the teachers carry a cane while they are in educational institutions if they intend to do so. It need not be used always, but the mere presence of a cane with teachers will create a psychological effect in the student community by discouraging them from doing any social evils.”

The court has directed the state police chief to issue a circular in this context and stated that it is needed in today's situation where there are instances of students carrying weapons within educational institutions and consuming drugs and alcohol. Recently a student had attacked a teacher on the issue of using cell phone in class.

The court noted that "for minor chastisements by teachers in schools, in good faith, while providing education or in relation to the discipline and conduct of a pupil, the teachers must be safeguarded against criminal prosecution".

The court opined that "no teacher should be made to suffer because he advised a student or gave minor punishments for indiscipline and bad behavior. Of course, a section of students and parents will come with grievances (against teachers) about punishment. If there are grievances, police authorities should make a inquiry preliminary with notice to the concerned teacher and the grievant party, if so required. No teacher should be arrested at such a stage," the court observed.

The court noted this while granting bail to Sibin S V of Neyyattinkara, a school teacher and accused in a case for allegedly assaulting a class-6 standard student.

The court added that teachers are the unseen heroes of our society. "They mold the minds, hearts, and souls of our future generation. No measures should be taken to lower the morale of the teachers' community because they are the backbone of our future generation", the court added.

Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) has withdrawn the suspension of at least 10 students who were suspended for allegedly taking part in protests on campus. The students have, however, been directed to execute a "bond of good conduct" within seven working days from the date of receiving the withdrawal letter. This comes on the heels of a Delhi High Court order suspending the university's suspension order.

Recently, JMI had suspended 17 students for staging protests against two PhD scholars' disciplinary action purportedly for coordinating "Jamia Resistance Day" on December 15, 2024. The event celebrates the start of the 2019 protests on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The students were also staging a protest against the university banning demonstrations on campus. After their police detention, which ended an indefinite sit-in demonstration within the campus, the university suspended them on charges of suspected vandalism and unauthorized agitations.

The JMI administration has yet to provide any official statement on the issue or lifting of suspension of the remaining seven students. While this is on, some of the students have come out opposing signing the undertaking. In an interview with PTI, AISA-supported students Saurabh and Sonakshi said, "We will not sign any bond of good conduct and will seek legal help if necessary."

While 10 students are now cleared to attend classes, students say that only a single one of the seven who had moved the Delhi High Court against the suspension has got a revocation letter.

Apart from that, two students have also been directed to pay fines of Rs 5,000 and Rs 3,000 under disciplinary action. A letter given by the Office of the JMI Chief Proctor to one of the students states, "On reconsidering the Discipline Committee's recommendation dated February 2, the Competent Authority, JMI, exercising the power under statute 31 of the JMI Act, has resolved to cancel the Suspension Order dated February 12, with a fine of Rs 5,000 to be deposited within a month from the date of receipt of this letter."

The letter also directs the student to return to academic pursuits maintaining university regulations by filing the "Bond of Good Conduct" in seven working days. The two disciplinary committees on February 25 and March 4 had advised cancellation of suspensions, which were stayed after the Delhi High Court intervened on March 4.

There was also a controversy when a list of suspended students-- including their phone numbers and addresses -- was said to have been posted at the university entrance. Students accused the administration of orchestrating the act, but the university refuted this. The list was subsequently taken down, though.

Seven of the suspended students approached the Delhi High Court challenging the university's action. The court, during the hearing of their plea, suspended the suspension order on March 4 and asked the university to constitute a committee to settle the matter.

In their remand petition, the Vadodara police informed the court that the police needed to investigate further to ascertain what happened before the accident and to see if Chaurasiya was driving drunk intentionally.

A court in Vadodara on Saturday handed over police custody of Rakshit Chaurasiya, a law student who is accused of killing one and injuring seven others in a car crash on Thursday night. The court remanded Chaurasiya to one day in custody after a late-night hearing on Friday, said the city's police commissioner, Narsimha Komar.

The Vadodara police, in making their remand request, informed the court that they needed to investigate further into the sequence of events leading up to the crash and if Chaurasiya was driving recklessly under the influence of intoxicants. The police are also probing the affair between Chaurasiya and Praanshu Chauhan, the son of the car owner, who was traveling with him at the time of the accident.

The court was told that there was a need to know why Chaurasiya, and not Chauhan, was behind the wheel when the accident occurred. The police are also investigating Chaurasiya's background and his connections with the people around him prior to the crash.

Police arrested Chauhan on Friday and identified a third person, Suresh, who was said to have been with Chaurasiya and Chauhan in the pre-dawn hours on the day of the accident but was not in the car when it took place. Samples of their blood have been sent for forensic tests to see if they had all taken any kind of intoxicants together.

The police are seeking to establish the facts surrounding the case and whether there were any possible links between the parties involved as part of an ongoing inquiry.