The Supreme Court today sought to know from various states if they would like to grant affiliation to 44 deemed universities in case the Centre derecognises them.

A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma issued notices to the state, asking them to file their response by January 11 next year.

The apex court's directions follows the Tandon Committee's recommendations seeking derecognition of 44 deemed universities on the ground that they have emerged as personal fiefdom of their promoters and have turned out to be pure commercial ventures of their management.

The apex court had earlier passed the status quo order in January this year restraining the Centre from stripping these 44 deemed universities of their prestigious 'deemed university' tag until it decides a batch of petitions by the aggrieved managements challenging the Centre's move as arbitrary and illegal.

The Centre, while proposing derecognition of these universities, had earlier assured the apex court that it would protect the interest of the two lakh odd students who would be affected by the derecognition move.