State BJP president writes to the President of India and PM on the alleged private universities scam

SAGAR CHHETRI
GANGTOK, 07 Feb: Bharatiya Janta Party, Sikkim State president, Padam Bahadur Chettri, has sent off letters to 15 high and concerned authorities on the issue of private universities in Sikkim on Monday.
The party president had, in an earlier release published on the 28 January edition, demanded that “the Governor may kindly ask the Chief Minister to show him, within a week, the Presidential assent on the Acts establishing the universities in Sikkim. If no assent is submitted to Governor, then he may order immediate closure of all concerned universities and order them to refund the money at penal compound rate paid by students and other payments for wasting time and causing anguish to students. Students or parents may ask for President’s assent and University Grants Commission recognition papers from the universities where they are studying or sending their wards.”
Copies of the letter have been sent to the President of India, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Governor of Sikkim, Chief Minister of Sikkim, Director, Central Bureau of Investigation, Registrar, Supreme Court of India,
Registrar, Sikkim Manipal University, Registrar, Vinayak University, Registrar, ICFAI, Registrar, EIILM, Secretary, Medical Council of India, Secretary, All India Council of Vocational and Technical Education, Secretary to Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, Lok Sabha.
Addressing a press conference today, Mr Chettri informed that one week has already passed and there has been no response from the Governor or the Chief Minister so he has taken the next course of action by sending letters to the above mentioned addressees.
Alleging that the Governor preserves, protects and defends the Chief Minister of Sikkim and not the Constitution of India, Mr Chettri stated that no response on the issue shows that either the Governor is not serious on the matter or he is not aware of it. This issue is very important for Sikkim since various fraud companies and conmen have cheated the State and its people in the past, he added.
He stressed that private universities need to have the assent from the President of India before establishing the university failing which it becomes illegal. “They are patently illegal; and I fail to understand why the Governor did not act according to the Law and the Constitution of the country in accordance with his solemn affirmation at the time of his swearing-in as Governor to preserve, protect and defend the Law and the Constitution,” alleged Mr Chettri.
Citing the on going court case with regard to the validity of the degree awarded through distance mode by Sikkim Manipal University in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, the BJP president said that similar actions may be anticipated from other legal forums in the country and hence, a samaritan may file a Public Interest Litigation in the Apex Court in the interests of millions of people in the present and future generations; and decide, once and for all, the status of the universities, other than Sikkim University, in Sikkim.
Further mentioning the cancellation of 122 spectrum licenses by the Supreme Court, he demanded that similar action should be taken against the Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical and Technological Sciences, the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University Sikkim, the Eastern Institute  for Integrated Learning in Management University  Sikkim, and the Vinayaka Missions Sikkim University for forging documents and misleading and cheating the people throughout the world who have sent their wards for studies in the “Sikkim” Manipal University and other private universities in Sikkim.
The letter asks the Secretary to the President of India to inform whether “the President has given his assent to the Sikkim Assembly Acts, establishing the private universities in Sikkim and a copy of the assent be kindly sent to him if available and if no copy of assent is received within 05 March then it will be presumed that the President has not assented to the relevant Sikkim Assembly Act”.
Likewise, he asked the Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development to inform how in the absence of the President’s assent to the Sikkim Assembly Act, Manipal Medical College under the illegal Sikkim Manipal University was allowed to function and grant MBBS degrees and other degrees.
He further asked the Secretary of Medical Council of India to inform under what provision of law the MCI recommended the recognition of Manipal Medical College in Sikkim as the SMU Act without the President’s assent.
The letter also asks the Secretary, All India Council of Vocational and Technical Education, New Delhi, to inform how and under what provision of law the Manipal Engineering College was recommended for approval by the competent authority. The Registrars of Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical and Technological Sciences, the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University Sikkim, the Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management University Sikkim, and the Vinayaka Missions Sikkim University have also been asked to send the State Assembly Acts duly assented to by the President of India.
Mr Chettri also urged the Prime Minister to direct the CBI to conduct investigation and charge-sheet those who are responsible for the existence and continuation of the illegal private universities in the border state of Sikkim. He further urged the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha to take the matter seriously and discuss it in the Parliament in accordance with the policy of war against corruption.
Mr Chettri further stated that if there is no response from these offices by 05 March, then he would file an FIR against the SMU Chancellor, Dr Ram Das Rai and take other legal steps as well.