BHUBANESWAR: The Higher Education department on Wednesday set in motion the process to appoint vice-chancellors (V-Cs) to 13 public universities of the state.
This effectively means, after a gap of three years, new vice-chancellors will be appointed to the state universities. With the Odisha University (Amendment) Act, 2024 coming into force, the department has invited applications from eligible academicians.
The appointments are being sought for the V-C posts which are either vacant and being managed by in-charge V-Cs, or those which will be vacant in the next three to four months. The institutions include Utkal University,Ravenshaw University, Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanjadeo (MSCB) University, Gangadhar Meher University, Fakir Mohan University, Khallikote University, Shri Jagannath Sanskrit Vishvavidyalaya, Rama Devi Women’s University, Rajendra University, Dharanidhar University, Vikram Dev University, Madhusudan Law University, and Maa Manikeswari University.
Appointment of V-Cs in public universities was stalled in May 2022 following a stay on the Odisha University (Amendment) Act, 2020 by the Supreme Court since the law formulated by the previous BJD government violated the University Grants Commission’s guidelines on V-C appointment. Under the previous law, V-Cs were appointed for a period of four years or till they attained the age of 70.
With the legislation stayed, when V-Cs retired, the government either extended their tenure, or allowed the posts to be managed by seniormost professor of the university or V-Cs of neighbouring universities.
Higher Education minister Suryabanshi Suraj had said universities will have a recruitment timeline and will no longer have to wait for retirement to make new appointments after the Odisha University (Amendment) Act, 2024 came into force.
Considering the existing or anticipated vacancy of a succeeding year, the universities can now advertise for the positions four months prior to retirements and at least once a year under the new Act, the minister had said.
Currently, V-Cs of Berhampur and Fakir Mohan universities are in charge of Khallikote and MSCB universities respectively. Last year, V-Cs of Utkal, Rama Devi, Gangadhar Meher, Ravenshaw, Rajendra and MS Law universities completed their tenure and were given six months extension.
Utkal University V-C position is being managed by the seniormost faculty member. Positions in Maa Manikeswari University, vacant after death of Sanjay Satpathy, and that of Rama Devi University are managed by PG council chairpersons. Likewise, Dharanidhar and Vikram Dev universities were managed by OSDs who were appointed under the provisions of the 2020 Act.
In April this year, the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Bill 2024 was passed by the Assembly after a marathon discussion of more than 12 hours and the Supreme Court lifted the interim stay imposed on Odisha University (Amendment) Act, 2020 last month. This cleared the path for V-C appointments to be made in accordance with the new Odisha University (Amendment) Act, 2024.