Administrative Council gives nod to J&K Public University Bill

Srinagar, Oct 8: The Administrative Council (AC) which met here under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, gave nod to the Jammu and Kashmir Public University Bill, 2022.
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor and Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, J&K attended the meeting.
With the view to address the issues regarding a wide variety of universities in J&K and separate Acts governing each university or group of universities with existing regulations, the government intends to frame a common Public University Bill which would apply to all public universities of UT of J&K.
Further the National Education Policy-2020 (NEP-2020) envisions an education system rooted in Indian ethos that contributes directly to transforming India, sustainably into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, by providing high-quality education to all, and thereby making India a global knowledge superpower.
The NEP 2020, moreover envisages fundamental transformation in the structure of higher education by mandating the transformation of all affiliated colleges to either multidisciplinary research or teaching universities or degree-awarding autonomous institutions by 2035.
The salient features of the current draft includes emphasis on uniformity and flexibility in working of all the higher educational institutions. A number of new provisions have also been introduced to make the functioning of universities transparent and accountable through transparent procedures and public disclosures. In order to make the recruitment process fully transparent and merit based, screening by the Public Service Commission and reduction in weightage to interview has been proposed for gazetted positions.
For non-gazetted positions, it has been proposed to do away with interviews altogether and conduct recruitment through the Service Selection Board. Screening/recruitment by Public Service Commission’s/ Service Selection Boards have been introduced in varying measures by other states like Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand etc.