Wrestlers dogged by shadow of fake degrees, denied PhD seats in MDU

by: Raghav Ohri

indianexpress

The Academic Council of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, has endorsed the vice-chancellor’s decision to not enrol two national-level wrestlers for PhD degrees.

This was conveyed to Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday during resumed hearing of a petition filed by Naveen Singh and Sandeep Kumar — both national-level wrestlers. The High Court was told that, like the vice-chancellor, the Academic Council too has decided to not allow the two to pursue Phd degrees till a clean chit is given to CMJ University, Shillong, from where both had completed their Masters.

CMJ University, from where the two wrestlers had completed their Masters in physical education, had come under the University Grants Commission (UGC) scanner in June this year for several alleged irregularities. The High Court will now decide whether the two wrestlers should be permitted to enrol for Phd in MDU, Rohtak.

Naveen and Sandeep had petitioned the High Court last week seeking directions to MDU to allow them to pursue their academic ambitions by pursuing PhD degree in the field of physical education. One wants to do research on “Impact of parent and child relationship on the sports performance of secondary school students” while the other wants to do a research on “Comparative study on Indian and Russian trends of wrestling”. They had approached MDU, Rohtak two months back and submitted their research proposals.

In view of the controversy over the degrees awarded by CMJ University, the MDU Vice-Chancellor had issued a letter that admissions of students who had obtained degrees from CMJ will remain suspended. This letter was issued last month. By virtue of this letter, the MDU decided not to clear these research proposals to the next level (Academic Council).

Aggrieved, the two moved the High Court. A HC Bench had issued notices to the University. On Tuesday, high court was informed that the Academic Council has decided that the two wrestlers will not be allowed to enrol for PhD till CMJ University is cleared of the charges against it.

This article was written by Raghav Ohri and originally published on indianexpress