Odisha to amend University Act, confirms Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj

Bhubaneswar, Odisha government plans to amend the Odisha University (Amendment) Act, 2020, which was passed by the previous BJD government, Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj informed the state Assembly on Friday. Replying to a question by BJD legislator Ganeswar Behera, the minister assured, “Since you are seeking rectification in the Act passed by the BJD government, we will certainly do it.” Suraj also mentioned that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has sent a letter to the Odisha government in this regard.
Talking about the appointment of vice chancellors in public universities in Jeypore and Baripada, the minister said that these institutions are currently under the supervision of officers on special duty. He added that after the amendment of the University Act in Odisha, the issues related to the appointment of vice chancellors as well as teaching and non-teaching staff will be sorted out.
The previous BJD government had passed the Odisha University (Amendment) Act, making many extensive changes to the original Act of 1989.
The Minister stated that the provisions contained in the current act regarding the election of chancellors and recruitment of teaching staff at universities differ from the UGC regulations.
In addition, he said, intellectual circles and several members of the Legislative Assembly had raised the issue of appointing the representative of the Secretary for Higher Education to the Universities Association, arguing that it weakens the autonomy of public universities.
Out of the 30 districts of Odisha, there is no government college in Jharsuguda, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts. Commenting on the issue, Suraj said, “I assure you all that we will set up colleges in these districts, which the previous BJD government was unable to do in its 25 years of rule.”
In a written reply to the House, the Higher Education Minister said the State government does not intend to allocate any budgetary funds in the current financial year for the ‘Nutana Unnata Abhilasha, Odisha’ (NUA-O) scholarship scheme for higher education students, which was launched by the previous BJD government.
The government is taking steps to introduce a new scheme ‘Financial Assistance for UG and PG Students’ from this year. The department is preparing guidelines for the scheme, he said.