Institutions accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) have been warned against misleading or providing false information to the public and students about their accreditation status.

The NAAC is an accreditation agency to assess and accredit institutions of higher education including deemed-to-be-universities in the country in form of grades. The council has issued a cautionary notice and also displayed the warning on its website holding the defaulter institutions to be liable for action.The information was shared by Minister of State for HRD, Mahendra Nath Pandey in response to a written question in Rajya Sabha.

To create public awareness, NAAC through articles and press releases has requested the stakeholders to ensure the authenticity and validity of the institutional grades by verifying the same from the website

Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister of State for HRD

"Institutions accredited by NAAC, if found misleading or providing false information to misguide the public and students by projecting themselves as recipients of higher grading by NAAC and showing accredited institutions even after the validity period is over, are liable to face strict action by NAAC," the response said.