The Delhi High Court on Wednesday questioned the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Sikkim Manipal University on allegations that the private varsity was illegally running 52 study centres in Delhi. The division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna also issued orders to issue notices to the respondents UGC, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Sikkim Manipal University. The notices are returnable by March 15. The bench was hearing a petition filed by Bhupendra Chaturvedi against the private university, alleging that it was not authorized by the UGC to open campuses outside the territorial jurisdiction of Sikkim. “The university has 52 unauthorized study centres in the national capital alone,” said senior advocate Arvind Nigam appearing for Chaturvedi. The UGC, through its notifications issued in April and June 2009, had disapproved of the Sikkim Manipal University's move to open centres outside its campus, he said.
