New Delhi: Two deemed universities have come up with a suggestion saying they wanted to add the word " vidyapeeth" as a suffix, falling back on Sanskrit in a bid to get around the Supreme Court ban on using the term university in their names.

Lingaya's University, Faridabad, and Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, have told the University Grants Commission that they wished to change their names to Lingaya's Vidyapeeth and Gurukul Kangri Vidyapeeth.

Technically, the two institutes cannot be faulted for opting for the term vidyapeeth. While vishwavidyalaya is the Hindi for university, the Sanskrit word vidyapeeth conveys the meaning "seat of learning", although it is generally associated with universities.

" Vidyapeeth generally means university," explained Prof. Apoorva Anand, who teaches Hindi in Delhi University, citing the examples of "Gujarat Vidyapeeth and Pune Vidyapeeth". Both are regular universities, set up by law.

The proposal from the institutes in Faridabad and Haridwar came in the wake of a recent UGC order asking some of the country's 120-plus deemed universities to drop the term university - from their names and/or websites - and apply for alternative names by November 30.

That was after the top court had ruled earlier in November that deemed universities that enjoyed the status of a university through an executive order were not on a par with regular universities and could not use the word "university" in their names.

Sources in the human resource development ministry said the two institutes - Lingaya's and Gurukul - might be allowed to add the word " vidyapeeth", a term that has long been used by about a dozen deemed universities.

Around 10 such institutes, such as Bharati Vidyapeeth, in Maharashtra, and Banasthali Vidyapith in Rajasthan, have been using the term since the beginning and will continue to do so.

A few - like Santosh University, Ghaziabad; BLDE University, Bijapur, Karnataka; Yenepoya University, Mangalore, and Jain University, Bangalore - have proposed that their names be changed to Santosh, BLDE, Yenepoya and Jain. The four may be notified without any suffix, like institute or vidyapeeth, the sources said.

Some of the 123 deemed universities across the country, such as the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, did not use the term university at all.