Ahmedabad, Oct 9 (IANS) Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday denied there were plans to drop 'Muslim' and 'Hindu' from the names of Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University.
"There is no such decision. Both universities have been there for almost a 100 years. It has been a century... and we have no intention to make any changes in the way they are," Javadekar told reporters here.
His remarks come in the wake of a newspaper report that said that a government audit of central universities had suggested that the words ‘Muslim' and ‘Hindu' be dropped from the names of AMU and BHU.
Asked about reports that dubbed these universities as feudal or facing problem of inbreeding, he said he had not seen the reports yet.
"I have not seen any report yet. But I am telling you in advance that we have no such intention (of changing their names)," Javadekar said.
He said the HRD Ministry had formed a committee to only look into the administrative, academic and research audits of certain universities.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) had directed for special audit in 10 central universities in the wake of complaints of financial, administrative and academic irregularities. The UGC order followed a MHRD directive on the matter.
"The mandate of the committee is restricted to only administrative, academic, and research audit. We will consider recommendations made in this regard only. If the committee has made any suggestions outside its purview, we will not take cognisance of anything then," he added.
