Bhubaneswar: In a bid to rationalise the administrative functioning of all state-run universities, the state cabinet Wednesday decided to bring all universities under the Odisha Universities Act, 1989.
Briefing media, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy said the state cabinet has been pleased to approve the proposal for amendment of the Odisha Universities Act, 1989.
“The Odisha Universities Act, 1989 very well addresses the specific requirement of unitary universities. Having many Acts will lead to disharmony between identical provisions of various Acts. Therefore, it is decided to repeal the Ravenshaw University Act, 2005. The Ravenshaw University will continue to function without any hindrance under the Act, 1989,” he said.
“As the concepts of registered teachers and registered graduates have become obsolete, the concept of senates in universities will be done away with,” he said. It was decided to reconstitute a committee for selection of vice-chancellor of a university by including a nominee of the state government (an academician) in place of the member selected by the syndicate. Now, the state government will be a stakeholder in selection of VCs.
The cabinet has also approved a provision to enhance the tenure of VC to four years from three years now with the upper age limit of 67 years with no provision of re-appointment. “This provision will provide ample opportunities to VCs to bring in long term changes and improvement in university’s functioning,” the CS said.
It was also decided to assign the responsibility of selection of teachers for the university to Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) and recruitment of non-teaching employees to State Selection Board (SSB) in order to prevent collective wastage of resources of the institutions.
As per the approved provisions, universities will no longer need to lay down annual audit reports before the Assembly. They will upload the audit reports on its website and will continue to display the same for at least three years, he stated.
The Cabinet also approved the law department’s proposal for amendment of the Odisha Advocates’ Welfare Fund Act, 1987 by promulgation of an ordinance.
