Bhubaneswar: In a rarest moment in Odisha Legislative Assembly, the House functioned whole night for detailed discussion on two Bills before adjourning sine die.
The Assembly functioned from Wednesday morning 10.30 AM to 7.05 AM this morning. After the transaction of business of the first half session, the House started discussion on the important Odisha Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2024 on 2 April afternoon and the debate continued till early morning around 4.30 AM on 3 April.
Later the Odisha State Highways Authority Bill was taken for consideration and passed.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi was present in the Assembly throughout the marathon session. Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida was also present at the House on the occasion. However, Leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik remained absent during the entire discussion.
A detailed discussion was held clause by clause between the Opposition leaders and Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj on the Universities Amendment Bill. Nearly 12 hours of discussion was held on the Bill.
Senior BJD MLA and former Higher Education Minister Arun Sahoo spoke against the Bill for 1.47 hours while senior BJD member Ranendra Pratap Swain also spoke for a long time against the proposed amendments.
In his statement, Higher Education Minister Shri Suraj said the Odisha Universities Act, 1989 was enacted in the year 1989 and further amended till 2020.
At present, 15 State Public Universities, coming under the administrative control of Higher Education Department are functioning under the Odisha Universities Act, 1989.
With passage of time, some of the existing provisions of the Act have to be amended to ensure the seamless administrative and academic functioning of universities, as well as to align with the current educational scenarios, it becomes imperative to revisit and amend certain provisions of the Act, he said.
In this context, it has been deemed expedient to introduce amendments to the Odisha Universities Act, 1989. These amendments aim to modernize the regulatory framework, foster efficiency in governance, and enhance the overall quality of higher education in the state, while addressing gaps those have arisen over time, Minister said.
In order to avoid the standstill in the recruitment process of teachers of Public Universities, which arose due to Court cases to ensure a smoother and more efficient recruitment process and to eliminate procedural bottlenecks by facilitating timely appointments, it has been decided to recruit the teachers of the Universities by a Committee of academicians, he stated.
Distance education has been included in order to introduce a distance education system in each eligible University, wherever it has not been introduced, in order to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in the State. This shall address the gaps in accessing quality higher education, particularly for students in remote and underserved regions, he said.
He also proposed that the “Senate” represents a wide spectrum of stakeholders, including faculty, students, administrative staff, alumni, and external experts.
The Finance Committee has been proposed in the Bill to ensure that the general system of financial management in the University is made as per the provisions contained in the Odisha General Financial rules or any other provisions of the State Government and Delegation of Financial Power Rules or other relevant provisions of the State Government, the Minister said.
The Building and Works Committee has been proposed to review and examine the requirement of infrastructure and progress of work taken up by the University.
The upper age limit of the Vice-Chancellor has been enhanced from 67 years to 70 years.
For the selection of the Vice-Chancellor, it has been decided that the Committee shall consist of three members and for this, out of three eminent persons, in the field of higher education, recommended by the Government, one member shall be nominated by the Chancellor, and he shall act as the Chairman of the Committee; One eminent person in the field of higher education, as member on behalf of the Chairman, UGC; one eminent person in the field of higher education, as member on behalf of the Syndicate.
In order to make the Public Universities more vibrant, transparent, and hassle free from student point of view, it has been proposed to abide by the principles adopted by University Grants Commission, he further said.
It has been proposed in the Bill to introduce a provision to facilitate the establishment of more numbers of universities in the State, either through the creation of new institutions or by upgrading existing higher education institutions to university status in order to increase the Gross Enrolment ratio.
It has been decided that all amounts received or generated by the University shall be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the audit reports and its compliances will be laid down before the Odisha Legislative Assembly as well as will be discussed in the Public Accounts Committee.