Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday shot off a letter to University Grants Commission chairman, vehemently opposing several provisions of the draft UGC Regulations 2025.
This came on the day when the last date for submitting feedback on it was extended till February 28.
The BJD registered its strong objection to the draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of standards in Higher Education Regulations) 2025 proposed by the UGC, which could give the Chancellor or Governor a bigger role in appointing Vice-Chancellors of state universities.
“The rule grants absolute power to the Governors and hence, through them to the central government, to appoint Vice-Chancellors and other academic staff of Higher Education institution like Universities including state universities without any participation by the state government,” read the letter.
The party claimed that the move “undermines the principles of federalism and makes a mockery of cooperative governance” between Centre and the states.
The letter described selection and the appointment process of vice-chancellors and other teaching staff as the most worrisome proposal in the regulations, “where the state government will have no involvement or say even in case of state universities or state institutes of higher education”.
It is proposed to be done through a search-cum-selection committee set up by the Governor.
“They are funded and maintained by state government for the benefit of its domiciled students. Even the faculty and non-faculty employees are paid from the state budget. It is, therefore, ironic and patently unjustified that the state government will have no role in the appointment of Vice-Chancellors and other academic staff and the overall governance of these Institutions and that it is only the central government. through UGC and Governor that would extend supervisory control over them,” it said.
The BJD has objected to this concentration of power with the central government. “It is an egregious over-reach if UGC’s Regulations (which are not enacted by the Parliament and hence, have no force of law) can override a law enacted in the State Legislature. This potentially emasculates the State legislature as far as its law-making power is concerned and is, therefore, an affront to the Constitution in broad daylight. The UGC should confine itself only to its stated (in the object of the UGC Act) role as a standard setting body.”
The letter added the BJD’s demand to include representative from the state governments and universities in the search committee to make the process “transparent” and the committee “accountable’ and to encourage consultation and collaboration between the UGC, state governments, and universities.
Notably, six states – Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka – have also described UGC draft regulations on appointing VCs as an assault on federalism. The DMK Student Wing also staged protests in Delhi against UGC rules for undermining of state autonomy in university administration.
