Shillong, June 12: The Governor of Meghalaya RS Mooshahary today has advice the state government of Meghalaya to consider for the dissolution of the CMJ University.
In the four page releases issued today from the Governor Secretariat which is sign by the governor him self have pointed out the various irregularities will fully committed by the university, the governor as the visitors of the university is satisfied to recommend to the state government for the dissolution of the CMJ University.
The text below is the
Decisions by the Visitor
1. I have perused the letter dated 10th June, 2013 from Shri S.P Shqma, Advocate for CMJ Foundation with reference to the Directives issued by this office vide letter no. GSMG/CMJU/82/2009/311 dated 24th May, 2013. It is observed that the CMJ Foundation/University has moved the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate seeking copies i f documents for the purpose of compliance of the Directives, after much delay, on 10th June, 2013 the last date fixed for cmpof the directive. It.thus appears that the CMJ Foundation is not sincere about compliance with the Directives. Moreover, all the Directives that were issued vide this office letter No. GSMG/CMJU/ 82/ 2009/ 143 dated 30th April, 2013 could have been complied by the CMJ Foundation without recourse to the documents seized by the State Police. The Directives issued on 30th April, 2013 are stated below:
i) The CMJ University shall recall/ withdraw all the degrees
awarded so far and publish this fact in national and local
newspapers at their own cost.
ii) The CMJ Foundation shall submit a frish proposal for
appointment of the Chancellor along with the correct bio-data of
the candidate recommended and supporting document.
iii) The CMJ University shall frame rules and procedures for
admission into the M.Phil and Ph.D degree programmes,
allocation of supervisor, course work, evaluation, assessment and
further related methods in accordance with the UGC (Minimum
Standards and Procedure for Awards of M.Phil/Ph.D degree)
Regulation, 2009.
iv) No fresh admission of students shall be undertaken by the CMJ
University till compliance of the above instructions and till the
appointment of the Chancellor in accordance with Sedion 14 (1) of
the CMJ University Act, 2009.
2. It is unfortunate that the Chairman of CMJ Foundation has
remained incommunicado all these days and chosen to
communicate only through his counsel According to media
reports his counsel says he is in Bihar attending on his sick parent.
Even if it is true it cannot be the reason for not addressing the
issues for so long.
3. It is worth mentioning that itnmediatdy after the first directives
were issued the University alleged that the students had
vandalized the office and. equipment in the University which
subsequently was found to be false by police. According to police
it was engineered by the university staff at the instance of one of
the Directors. It was a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence and
the case is under police investigation.
4. All these cast a shadow on the sincerity of the University to adhere
to the requirement of law, initiate corrective actions and uphold
the standard of education..
5. The commissions and omissions of University are in two parts: i) It
started functioning without the Chancellor whose appointment
has not been approved by the Visitor, and ii) it functioned in gross
violation of the standards and norms set by the University Grants
Commission and other regulatory bodies, CMJU Act 2009, and
Meghalaya Private Universities (Regulations of Establishment and
Maintenance of Stapdards) Act 2012. This is even more serious an
offence; it constitutes a breach of trust in addition. Even with the
legally appointed Chancellor no university can be allowed to
function with such fraudulent intent and vitiate the academic
environment, disgrace the institution of higher learning and bring
disrepute to the state where it is established.
6. On the basis of facts and circumstances available it is concluded
that the university corrunitted the following grave irregularities:
i) The University functioned from 17/10/2010 with the self appointed
Chancellor without the approval of the Visitor in terms
of Section 14 (1) of the CMJ University Act, 2009 on the
Presumption of “deemed approval” of the Visitor. This is not
legally valid and the position has been affirmed by the order dated
16th May, 2013 of the Hon’ble High Court of Meghalaya which has
further been upheld by the Division Bench of the hon’ble High
Court of Meghalaya in their order dated 31th May, 2013.
ii) It awarded B.Ed degree through Distance Mode without the
requisite approval of the regulatory bodies and without affiliation.
The B.Ed degrees awarded by the CMJ University were held to be
invalid in the eye of Law by the order dated 24th May, 2013 of the
Hon’ble High Court of Gauhati.
iii) The Shillong EkLgineering and Management College was deaffiliated
by NEHU from 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
I 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
debees will be issued by the CMJ University.
iv) 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 available with us that another 29 student 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
University awarded PhD even in subjects like the Bodo and
Punjabi languages where the guides/faculty are not easily
available. These constitute gross abuse of the university’s power
and violation of the UGC (Mkimum Standards and Procedure for
Awards of MP Phil / PhD Degree) Regulation, 2009.
v) 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 others 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.
vi) The University is running several off campus centers 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 Hon’ble
Supreme Court (2005) in the case of Prof. Yashpal & Anr. Versus
State of Chhattisgarh & Ors.
vii ) It is offering distance education programme outside the boundaries outside Meghalaya and outside India these action are gross violation
of UGC regulation and guidelines.
viii) Total students enrolled by CMJ University as per information
submitted by the university is 2010-11: 176,2011-2012:469, 2012-2013:2734 all these admission are illegal as all its action are ab initio void in absence of a legally appointed chancellor.
X) The University has violated Section 45 (3) and Section 46 (4) of
the CMJ University Act 2009 by not submitting the Annual Report
and the Annual Accounts / Balance Sheet and the Audit Report to
the Visitor.
xi) Even after the stiation of actions by the-Visitor the University
continued to mislead the students and public by press statements.
It issued a news paper advertisement in the Shillong Times on 22″d
April, 2013 claiming it has not yet awarded any PhD degree to any
of the students enrolled from the State of Assam which is false.
Again it issued advertisement in newspaper on 2nd May and 16″
May, 2013 in matters of holding Convocation and Award of PhD
Degree knowing full well fhst there can be no Convocation
without the legally appointed Chancellor and that th6 admissions
to the courses and award of the degrees were illegal.
xi) The University has violated Section 41(1) of the CMJ University
Act relating to establishment of Endowment Fund and indulged in
cheating by withdrawing the deposit of Rs.210 lakhs within days
of making the deposit.
xii) 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.
7. All these established facts clearly indicate mismanagement, maladministration,
indiscipline and failure in the accomplishment of
the objectives of the University, apart from criminal liability. In
the interest of maintaining proper standards of higher education it
would be desirable that the CMJ University be wound up. The
state government is accordingly being addressed to consider
‘ Dissolution of the CMJ University in terms of Section 48 of the
CMJ University Act, 2009.
Ranjit S Mooshahary
Visitor, CMJ University & Governor of Meghalaya(SP News)
