Governor recommends dissolution of CMJU

SHILLONG: In an interesting turn of events, Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary has virtually taken CMJ University (CMJU) head on by seeking its dissolution ‘in the interest of maintaining of proper standards of higher education in the State.’

“The State Government should consider closure of the University in accordance with Section 48 of the CMJ University Act, 2009,” Mooshahary, who is also the Visitor of the University, said in a statement issued here on Wednesday.

He pointed out that the University has indulged in a series of irregularities from October 17, 2010 and had functioned on the strength of a self-appointed Chancellor without the approval of the Visitor which is in gross violation of Section 14 (1) of the CMJ University Act, 2009 on the presumption of ‘deemed approval’ by the Visitor.

“This is not legally valid and the position has been affirmed by the order issued by the High Court of Meghalaya on May 16, 2013. The Division Bench of the High Court has further upheld the order on May 31,” Mooshahary said.

Informing that the University through its distance mode education has awarded B Ed degree without the requisite approval of the National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCTE) and without affiliation, he said that the B Ed degrees awarded by the CMJ University were invalid in the eyes of law as ruled by the Gauhati High Court on May 24.

“The Shillong Engineering and Management College was de-affiliated by NEHU from the academic session 2011-2012. This College, which was in existence prior to the sanction for establishment of the CMJ University, cannot be affiliated with the CMJ University. While the fate of the students of this College was already uncertain in view of the said de-affiliation, the College continued to make admissions by misleading the students that the degrees will be issued by the CMJ University,” Mooshahary said.

The Governor also pointed out that the University had reported that during 2012-2013, it had awarded PhD degrees to 434 students and enrolled another 490 students.

“These figures though extraordinarily high do not reflect the correct position. Information is available with us that another 29 students have also received PhD degree from the University and more information is coming on a daily basis.So it is obvious that the actual number of award of and enrolment for, PhD and other programs will be much higher than was reported,” the Governor said, adding that the University awarded PhD even in subjects like Bodo and Punjabi languages where guides/ faculty are not easily available.

He said that these actions constitute gross abuse of the University’s power and violation of the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Awards of MPhil/ PhD Degree) Regulation, 2009.

“The University furnished a list of 10 faculty members with PhD which is inaccurate. One of the faculty members is only a research scholar at NEHU. The list includes the Vice-Chancellor, Registrar and other functionaries of the University as faculty which is quite misleading. In fact the University does not have adequate teachers to introduce courses which it had been doing,” Mooshahary said.

The Visitor also pointed out that the University is running several off campus centres outside Meghalaya which is not permissible under the UGC (Establishment of and Maintenance of Standards of Private University) Regulations, 2003 and the decision of the Supreme Court in 2005 in the case of Prof. Yashpal & Another Versus State of Chhattisgarh & Others.

“The University is offering distance education programmes outside the boundaries of Meghalaya and outside India. These actions are in gross violation of UGC Regulations and guidelines,” Governor said while adding that a total students enrolled by CMJ University as per information submitted by the University is 176 in 2010-11, 469 in 2011-12, and 2734 in 2012–13.

Meanwhile, Mooshahary pointed out that the University has violated Section 41(1) of the CMJ University Act relating to establishment of Endowment Fund and had cheated the State of Meghalaya by withdrawing the deposit of Rs 210 lakh within days of making the deposit. He lamented that the University repeatedly acted in contravention of Section 52 of the CMJ University Act, 2009 in respect of maintenance of standards and other related matters applicable to private universities.

“All these established facts clearly indicate mismanagement, mal-administration, indiscipline and failure in the accomplishment of the objectives of the University, apart from criminal liability,” Governor added.

On June 10, the CMJ Foundation and University had moved the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate seeking copies of documents for the purpose of compliance of the Visitor’s directives. Commenting on this, Mooshahary said, “It appears that the CMJ Foundation is not sincere about compliance with the directives. They could have complied to the directives even without recourse to the documents seized by the state police.” The Governor implied that the legal counsel of the CMJU was only buying time.

On April 30, the Governor in his capacity as Visitor had directed the University to withdraw all degrees awarded by it so far and to stop fresh admissions besides submitting fresh proposal for appointment of chancellor and submission of annual reports.