Migration Certificate in Indian Universities

There is this strange document called a "Migration Certificate" that a lot of (if not most) Indian universities demand after admission. The previous university where you studied (or school) is supposed to give such a certificate which essentially says that this student studied in our university in this program from this time to that time, and whether s/he got the degree or left in between.

Interestingly, IIT Kanpur is one of the few universities who do not ask for migration certificate (unless something has changed in the last few years). Of course, some students would attach it by sheer force of habit. Also, when one of the graduates or alum asks IIT Kanpur to issue a migration certificate, it states on its letterhead something to the effect that Inter University Board of India and Ceylon had recommended abolition of migration certificate and hence it does not issue such a certificate. But it has no objection to its graduate (with details) in seeking admission to any place.

This recommendation of Inter University Board of India and Ceylon is from 1972. (In 1973, the name of the body changed to Association of Indian Universities.) IIT Kanpur abolished migration certificates in 1973.

And yet, 50 years later, most of our universities (including IITs) continue to seek such a certificate.

Why was it needed and why was it abolished.

The main purpose of the certificate was to ensure that a student does not take admission in more than one university. If the student has to submit the migration certificate in original, then s/he can submit it at only one university, and hence this was the way to enforce the rule. However, IUBIC noted 50 years ago that this is not so simple. A student can simply go to the previous university and tell them that s/he has lost the migration certificate and get a duplicate one. So the universities were anyway seeking an undertaking that the student is not studying at another university. So that should suffice. If s/he has been found to give a false undertaking, you can take the same action that the university would have taken if the student used duplicate migration certificate in two universities.

After a while, even this rule about studying in two universities got dropped. In fact, AICTE and UGC are actively forcing universities not to keep original certificates. The student should be able to seek admissions in multiple institutions and take a decision on which one to continue much later. And indeed, today, UGC allows you to have admission in one full time program and one online degree program simultaneously. So whatever limited purpose migration certificate had is completely lost today.

Why do universities demand this. Of course, guidelines or recommendations of AIU are not binding on the universities. So legally, I guess they can ignore this 50 year old guideline. (And may be, AIU has changed its guidelines in the last 50 years and IIT Kanpur is ignorant of such a change.)

My gut feeling is that this is looked at as an instrument of control, and a bit of revenue. Many universities do charge money to issue migration certificates, and if many graduate needs a copy, that can certainly pay for a few cups of tea. And if we are making money giving out this certificate, we better seek this certificate from others, since if the idea of not seeking MC catches on, we will lose our cups of tea.

I would love to hear from others about its utility, if any, and why universities don't stop seeking it.

For the record, we at JK Lakshmipat University (JKLU) do not ask for migration certificate from our students.