Shillong, June 10: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday assured that the state government will look into the alleged offering of a post graduate (PG) programme in Masters of Public Health (MPH) by the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Shillong in collaboration with the Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU) in violation of the UGC norms, if proper complaint is filed in this regard.

“Let there be a proper complaint and when it comes we will definitely look into the matter,” Sangma told reporters while responding to the demand of the FKJGP to constitute a house committee to probe into the matter.

He however said, “I think the house committee is at a very later stage…but yes if there are genuine concerns and genuine issues then definitely we can look into the matter but the department can find out.”

Meanwhile, the Meghalaya Private University Regulatory Board (MPURB) has taken serious note of the “interim arrangement” between the IIPH and MLCU.

“We will be examining the matter as per law and we will submit our report to the state government for necessary action,” Chairman of the MPURB, LM Sangma had stated on Tuesday.

On June 4, Principal Secretary in-charge Health & Family Welfare Sampath Kumar said that the Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree is not granted by the Indian Institute of Public Health, Shillong (IIPHS) but by the Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU).

The students are taught by faculty from both MLCU and IIPHS. Qualified IIPHS staff are adjunct faculty of MLCU and are shown as such in the MLCU prospectus. Adjunct faculty is permitted by UGC regulations, Kumar, who is also the chairperson of the IIPH Shillong Society, said in response to a report on the PG programme being in alleged violation of UGC norms.

Kumar also informed that these academic collaborative arrangements are permitted by UGC, the MLCU Act 2005, as provided under Chapter II clause 7(c) and clause 8(19) and by resolution of the IIPHS Society.

Stating that the collaboration with the MLCU is an ‘interim arrangement’, the Principal Secretary had said, “The University status is needed for granting of degrees, hence this interim arrangement of IIPH with MLCU along similar lines of the NEIGRIHMS, who tied up with the NEHU for their medical degrees.”

Sources however informed that as per the Meghalaya Private Universities (Regulation of Establishment and Maintenance of Standards) Act, 2019, the MLCU ‘cannot affiliate’ an institute or college. They said how IIPH can offer courses when it is yet to declare itself as a college or university.

Additional Chief Secretary in-charge Education, DP Wahlang, had also maintained that MLCU being a private university cannot have off-campus courses nor can it affiliate any institute. He had also informed that IIPH had yet to obtain a No-objection certificate from the education department for the course.