New Delhi, Jul 11 (IANS): In wake of the Reliance Foundation's proposed Jio Institute being named as an 'Institution of Eminence' (IOE), the Congress on Wednesday said any institute seeking such status must establish its credentials by "acknowledged established tests" and sought to know from the government how was this granted.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: "This is not person specific, it is not company specific, it is not in any way, we are not bothered about individuals.

"Any institution which is seeking such status, must establish its credentials by various acknowledged established tests. What are those tests? Adequate infrastructure, outstanding faculty, credible research output, a place of prestige in the academia."

"This is the obligation of the government and the HRD (Human Resource Development) ministry and till now apart from a lot of talk, we have not seen great achievements in this regard by the HRD or the government. I think it is counter productive and wrong to focus on an individual or institution X or Y by taking names or otherwise.

"The need of the hour is for the HRD Ministry to look into these four or five established criteria and certainly if you satisfy them in a very objective and proper way, then grant the status," he added.

"But equally to be extremely strong and harsh, if you do not satisfy this criterion, and at the moment we need a proper transparent system where you will share with the nation, how they apply the criteria and how they have done it."

Yet to be established 'JIO Institute' by Reliance Foundation is already in the fray to become an 'Institution of Eminence' under a government scheme which will entitle the tag-holders for special exemptions in aspects of how they operate the institutes.