Unauthorized Universities in the state ?

Unauthorized Universities in the state ?
SK Sharma

Unauthorized Universities in the state ?

Apropos HYDROELECTRIC POWER PROJECTS IN SIKKIM, dated 7th September, 2011, Part V, Shri Sonam Wangdi, the erstwhile Chief Secretary of Sikkim, an alumnus of London School of Economics Society, UK wrote that Sikkim University is the only authorized university in Sikkim. This implies that all the other universities, functioning under the Sikkim State Assembly Acts, are not authorized institutions. If they are not authorized, then the future of our thousands of students pursuing higher degrees is in jeopardy; and the degrees, awarded by such unauthorized universities in Sikkim, are not valid at all.

Moreover, I am under the impression that there is a Rule which provides that all the higher educational institutions in a State are compulsorily affiliated to a Central University established by Parliamentary enactment in that State. In other words, in Sikkim, only Sikkim University can grant affiliation and no other Universities even if they are legal, have the right to grant affiliation to higher educational institutions. Considered in the light of the preceding proposition, the grant of affiliation by Vinayaka Missions University to a Government College in West Sikkim, is clearly in contravention of both criminal and civil law.

Having obtained a Ph.D. degree from the University of Delhi, and having experience in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Management Plan (EMP) at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Mountain and Hill Environment (CISMHE, Delhi University), I am sure that the hydel power projects awarded to private developers may not be following law. But I cannot believe that universities in Sikkim are not complying with the law because they have highly learned professors in all academic fields including Constitutional Law.

Shri Wangdi himself was in important and powerful posts for a long time in Sikkim. Therefore, if the universities, which had been established under the provisions of Laws passed by the Sikkim State Assembly and assented to by the Governor of Sikkim, are not authorized, then Shri Wangdi is also answerable for permitting the existence and continuation of the “unauthorized” universities.
Shiva Kumar Sharma
M.Sc., Ph. D., (Delhi).