Meghalaya varsity asked not to admit students in Delhi

The Delhi High Court has prohibited Mahatma Gandhi University, Meghalaya, from admitting any student to a fashion institute in Delhi for any of its courses.

Justice Manmohan Thursday directed the university not to admit students in degree, diploma and certificate courses in fashion institute Fashionista on a plea of a student, Mohammad Sajid, who alleged the institute was running illegally and playing with the careers of innocent students.

The plea said the university was established by an act of the legislature of Meghalaya as state private university and was empowered to award degrees as specified by the UGC (University Grants Commission) "through its main campus only in regular mode".

There is no provision to have campus of university beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the state, the plea said, adding the institute is running with the active connivance of the university, in gross violation of law.

The court also directed the UGC to appraise the court about the action it has taken against the university for violating the UGC norms.

"....Mahatma Gandhi University, Meghalaya, is prohibited from admitting any student in Delhi for any course, be it degree or diploma or certificate till further orders," Justice Manmohan said while posting the matter for Aug 26.

The plea also sought direction to blacklist Fashionista, declare it illegal and take penal action against those managing it as the institute got illegal affiliation.

It was alleged in the plea the institute claimed it had technical collaboration with the Meghalaya university, and was running various degree and diploma courses without approval or affiliation either from the UGC or Distance Education Council (DEC) or the Delhi government.

The institute does not have any legal sanctity or validity to run the courses, contended Sitab Ali Chaudhary, counsel appearing for Sajid.

Sajid said he applied for admission to a diploma course in interior design for the academic session 2012-14 and deposited the fees of over Rs.1 lakh.

However, when he started attending classes, he came to know the claims of the institute in the advertisement as well as in the prospectus were false, baseless and wrong.