(1) The Commission shall process the application received under regulation (5) in the following manner, namely:—
(i) any deficiency or defect in the application shall be communicated by the Commission to the Higher Educational Institution and the Higher Educational Institution shall be required to remove 14 THE GAZETTE OF INDIA : EXTRAORDINARY [PART III—SEC. 4] or rectify such deficiencies or defects with the necessary documents or information, if any within the laid down time period;
(ii) where the Higher Educational Institution has made an application for offering a Course or Programme in Online mode, the Commission may cause an inspection, in respect of such Course or Programme at its discretion through an Expert Committee; and
(iii) the Commission may examine the application with the help of an expert Committee constituted by Chairman of the Commission and the recommendations of such expert Committee shall be placed before the Commission for its consideration.
(2) After receiving the recommendations of the expert committee, the Commission, if it is satisfied that the Higher Educational Institution fulfils the laid down conditions and the quality parameters specified under these Regulations, shall pass an order granting recognition to such Higher Educational Institution or if it is of the opinion that the institution does not fulfil the laid down requirements in respect of any of the Course or Programme proposed to be offered by it, shall pass an order refusing recognition to such Higher Educational Institution for reasons to be recorded in writing.
(3) No Higher Educational Institution shall offer any Online Course or Programme and admit students thereto unless it has been granted recognition by the Commission and admission shall not be made in anticipation of the approval.
Explanation.—For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that prior to these regulations, the commission has not given recognition for an Online Course or Programme to any Higher Educational Institution.
(4) The time periods for different stages of approval process shall be laid down by the Commission from time to time.