NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed the Cabinet Secretary to the Union of India for flouting its directions to file an affidavit in connection with the regulation of private universities in the country.
“We are really surprised as to how the Cabinet Secretary was under the misconception that despite a categorical order of the court that the affidavit has to be affirmed by him, he has not filed it and has instead been filed by the Secretary of the Higher Education Department,” a bench of justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and N V Anjaria said.
The court had in November 2025 directed a nationwide audit of private universities after a petition alleged that Amity University had harassed a student for changing her name. She said the institution had refused to change her name in its rolls despite furnishing all legal documents.
In 2021, the petitioner had changed her name from Khushi Jain to Ayesha Jain and published it in the Gazette. Yet, Amity barred her from attending classes and even taunted her for taking a Muslim name.
“We were not taking this issue totally as a judge or as just an issue before the court. It is taken only in public interest. On the next date, larger picture will emerge and take you (counsel) into confidence regarding what is going on in our minds. We will require you all to be proactive then. Mr (Tushar) Mehta (Solicitor General) will not believe how many letters and petitions I have received from all over India. We are getting some petitions with evidence,” the bench said.
During the hearing, when a lawyer said that education should not be an industry, Justice Amanullah said, “Exactly. We are creating the future of the country. Whatever we do today is meaningless if we don’t ensure that the baton is passed on to the right hands.”