Jammu, Aug 4: The Divisional Bench of J&K High Court on Thursday stayed the opening of degree college at Sarh Bagga in tehsil Mahore-- the constituency of Minister Higher Education Abdul Gani Malik—on a writ petition filed by eleven Sarpanchs of tehsil Majalta of district Udhampur.
According to a press statement issued by the petitioners, the writ had sought quashing of order pertaining to opening of a degree college at Sarh Bagga on the grounds of the decision being “arbitrary, irrational, politically motivated and being colourable exercise of power.”
The petitioners had instead demanded the issuance of a writ of mandamus commanding the government to open a degree college in Majalta tehsil.
They submitted in their petition that the UGC has been taking proactive measures for the expansion of higher educational facilities to ensure that all states of the country achieve the national average of gross enrollment in higher education. “One significant initiative in this regard was the move to establish model degree colleges in educationally backward districts of the country. To achieve this objective the UGC identified 374 such districts which included eleven districts of Jammu and Kashmir,” they submitted.
The petitioners however averred that personal and political consideration has been the long deciding faction in the matter of establishment of model degree colleges as well as eleven degree colleges by the ruling coalition in the state.

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