Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday urged the to repeal theOdishaUniversities (amendment) Act, 2020 to ensure academic autonomy of state public universities.
“The state government has come up with a law to bring all state public universities under one Act. It was created this keeping the administrative needs of the universities in mind. As an alumnus of Utkal University, I request the government to reconsider the proposal of the academics on the Act for academic autonomy, multidisciplinary, employability and other benefits,” said Pradhan while attending the 79th foundation day of Utkal University.
Pradhan said putting the universities in order does not mean the Act will end up creating an obstacle on the path of autonomy of the universities. “A university cannot be a college where a teacher can be transferred from one institution to another. Besides meeting with the governor, I had also written a letter to the then education minister about this issue last year,” Pradhan said.
The government had amended the Odisha Universities Act, 1989, in September last year and brought all state public universities under one Act. Academics and retired professors had criticised the government for amending the Act which they said curtails the autonomy of the universities.