Many deemed varsities on Monday challenged the authencity of the P. N. Tandon review committee, set up by the HRD ministry, on the grounds that the Centre didn’t have the jurisdiction nor the statutory power to carry out the review.

Advocate K. K. Venugopal, representing four of the 44 affected deemed varsities, also questioned Tandon’s appointment as the panel’s chairman. He said it was inappropriate to let Tandon head the panel as he was himself president of a deemed varsity, that is National Brain Research Centre (NBRC).

Interestingly, the panel has declared NBRC as a fit deemed varsity inspite of a limited number of staff and research work.

The SC directed the Centre to post the panel’s proposals on the Net.