Sessions Court rejects anticipatory bail plea of EIILM Univ officials

EIILM UNIV OFFICIALS DECLARED ABSCONDING, EFFORTS ON TO LOCATE THEM
NAMCHI, 16 Sept: The District and Sessions Court here rejected the anticipatory bail plea of EIILM University officials yesterday following the expiry of the initial interim order. When contacted today, SP South Manoj Tiwari stated that the Registrar, Director, Vice Chancellor, officials and owner of EIILM University are absconding and efforts are being made to locate them. Sources inform that the EIILM University officials are now planning to approach the High Court for bail.
During the hearing on 13 September, the prosecution had stated that the EIILM officials who are the prime accused in the case are not cooperating with the police investigation and despite notices issued under Section 91 CrPC and 160 CrPC they are neither furnishing relevant documents nor appearing before the police to give their statements and examination.
The prosecution, it is informed, had produced a mark sheet of LLM (Master of Law) issued and verified by the university as genuine. It is interesting to note that neither does EIILM University have any provision for the said course nor has the Bar Council of India given any approval to run the course. In addition, the University neither has a Law Department or Law College in Sikkim nor any faculty appointed for this purpose.
The EIILM University has never advertised Law Course in Sikkim and on practical verification there is no Law Course offered all over Sikkim by this university, the prosecution has contended.
Further, the prosecution produced evidence of a bank account opened in the name of a Law Department of EIILM University in a nationalized bank with huge deposits collected from students from outside the state; it also submitted before the court that only B. Tech, BBA, MBA and BCA courses are being run in its two existing colleges in Sikkim i.e. Jorethang and Budang.
Adding to this, the prosecution also submitted huge number of unchecked examination copies for various courses which has been seized and which clearly suggests that the university is making mark sheets for non existing courses being run in vacuum and thus making forged documents, and by issuing and verifying such mark sheets as genuine the officials are committing a crime under section 467 [forgery of valuable security, will, etc] and 471 [using as genuine a forged document or electronic record] of the IPC besides Section 420 and 406 IPC.
The defense in its argument had submitted that the university is approved by UGC and that the police has no right to check the activities, and that the officials of the university have high reputation in society which was countered by the prosecution by citing examples of A. Raja and Suresh Kalmadi. The defense said that the university does not require any approval from Bar Council of India (BCI) as permission has been granted by UGC which was objected by prosecution who said that without the approval of BCI no one can run law courses in the country.
Further, the prosecution stated that the setting up of off-shore campus and more than 55 centers in various places of the country by EIILM is in violation with the judgment of the Supreme Court in Professor Yashpal versus Government of Chhatisgarh also known as the Rai University case. The prosecution also provided the copy of the judgment of Supreme Court.
The defense said that they have filed a civil writ petition before the Delhi High Court for which the hearing is scheduled on 18 September to which the prosecution said that the defense has not produced any document for any relief provided by any competent court of the country, and that EIILM University falls under jurisdiction of High Court of Sikkim.
It is further learnt that B. Tech courses run by EIILM are not approved by AICTE which is why Bangladeshi students residing in Malbasey campus are sponsored by EIILM university on scholarship and enrolled with IGNOU.
Notices under 160 CrPC have been issued for the above mentioned people to turn up including the Controller of Examination of EIILM by 10 AM on 17 September.