UGC takes stand against Odisha Universities Act

CUTTACK: Taking a strong stand against the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act, 2020 in the Orissa High Court, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has contended that the State law is in conflict with the UGC Regulation-2018 issued under University Grant Commission Act, 1956.

UGC’s Education Officer Dr Supriya Dahiya has filed an affidavit in response to notices issued by the court on two separate PILs. The petitions filed by retired Professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University Ajit Kumar Mohanty and Professor of Utkal University Kunja Bihari Panda had challenged the constitutional validity of the Act which was notified on November 9 last year.

The affidavit said UGC Regulation and its amendments from time to time are framed after detailed deliberations by the expert committee and are mandatory in nature and cannot be overlooked at any stage. All the universities / institutions / colleges have been advised to strictly comply the same. “But it seems that in this case, the Odisha University (Amendment) Act, 2020 has not been enacted in strict compliance of the UGC guidelines”, Dahiya said.

The amendment in the procedure for selection of vice-chancellor of universities, and constitution of selection committees and guidelines are not in conformity with the UGC Regulation-2018. The State law could not have passed a parallel enactment making the encroachment with regard to the composition of the selection committee patent and obvious, the affidavit said.

The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Savitri Ratho allowed the State government time till the next date (July 14) to respond to the UGC affidavit.The contention of the petitions is basically hinged on two aspects. First, the legislative measure is beyond the competence of the State. 

Second, the amendment deals a big blow to the autonomy of the universities as recruitment of teaching staff would be done now by the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) and non-teaching staff by the Staff Selection Board (SSB).