BHUBANESWAR : The Higher Education department on Monday abolished the governing bodies of all non-government-aided degree colleges in the state paving way for reconstitution of the managing committees.
Every college has an 11-member governing body or a managing committee which includes a state government nominee and a person of importance. Its tenure is for three years.
The department stated that till the new bodies are formed, a college which is located at the district headquarters will have the additional district magistrate (ADM) as the president of the governing body or managing committee.
Similarly, if a district has more than one ADM, the district magistrate and collector will nominate one ADM to act as a president. Where a college is located outside the district headquarters, the sub-collector will temporarily act as the president of the governing body or managing committee.
The president of the governing body formed as per provisions stated by the department, will have to submit the proposal for formation of a fresh committee within a period of three months.
While higher education officials said this was a routine process, sources in non-government aided degree colleges said reconstitution of governing bodies is aimed at bringing back MLAs into the bodies and including members chosen by the present government.
In 2020, the then Higher Education minister Arun Sahoo had announced that college governing bodies will no longer have MLAs. “There are many colleges whose governing bodies’ tenure is not over yet. Dissolving governing bodies of all colleges is only a move by the new government to include its people in these panels that look into overall functioning of the institutions including academic and administrative management,” said a teacher and member of 662 colleges’ association.