Serious allegations of mismanagement, maladministration, and fraudulent practices against the management of CMJ University resulted in the Meghalaya government’s dissolution of the university in 2014, and the Supreme Court upheld the decision on Thursday. The ruling reinforces the state’s ability to strike institutions for violations of regulatory and academic integrity.
Justices PS Narasimha and Sandeep Mehta bench dismissed the 2021 Meghalaya High Court directive asking the state government to reconsider the dissolution of the government and said the order of the state government was made on the basis of concrete evidence. The top court agreed to the recommendations of the Meghalaya governor, as the university’s visitor, who asked the chancellor, professor Chandra Mohan Jha (CMJ), to be removed, the university be dissolved and PhD, M.Phil, and B.Ed. Degrees be withdrawn, whereas faculty degrees were given out without authorisation, and this was also in the interests of the university.
The court directed that the Meghalaya High Court’s division bench had committed an error in sending the case back to a single-judge bench for review. It argued that the state’s order to dissolve CMJ University was correct, as it had repeatedly violated many rules, including making unauthorized appointments, financial irregularities, failure to submit mandatory reports and expansion of the centre without legal permission out of the campus.
The Meghalaya government had given many opportunities to CMJ University to put things right before issuing the order of dissolution. Yet, the institution ignored the regulations and was eventually shut down.
The Supreme Court’s ruling reiterates that private universities must be under very close scrutiny and that higher education institutions should behave in a way that remains in accordance with legal and ethical standards. After this decision, the state government is now supposed to take the steps necessary to address the academic and legal consequences of the university’s closure.
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