On Wednesday, Orissa High Court issued notices to the Centre, the State Government and the University Grants Commission on the validity of the Odisha University Act 2020.
The HC issued notices on two public interest litigation petitions which challenged the constitutional validity of the amendments brought by the order. The petitions were filed by retired professor at JNU, Ajit Kumar Mohanty, and professor at Utkal University, Kunja Bihari Panda.
"While issuing the notices, Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice B R Sarangi filed the hearing on 11 January," Mohanty's counsel Sidhartha Prasad Das said.
Chief Secretary, Chief Secretary (Department of Law), Commissioner-Cum-Secretary of Higher Education Department of the Government of Odisha, University Grants Commission, and Union of India Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Human Resources Development were identified as respondents to the petitions.
The petition is essentially based on two arguments—one is that the legislative measure is beyond the competence of the State and the other is that the amendment is a major blow to the autonomy of the universities as regards the recruitment of teaching staff. All professors, associate professors and assistant professors will now be appointed by the Odisha Public Service Commission and the non-teaching staff of the State Government Staff Selection Board.
Previously, the recruitment process for both teaching and non-teaching staff was carried out by the University Selection Committee headed by the Vice-Chancellor.
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