Dharmendra's letter to Union Education Minister - Odisha University says there is dissatisfaction among academics

 Dharmendra's letter to Union Education Minister - Odisha University says there is dissatisfaction among academics

The Union University of Petroleum and Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has written a letter to Union Education Minister Ramesh Pakhorayal Nish in order to bring about a major change in the state university without discussing the Odisha University Act 14 in the state assembly.  Mr Pradhan also wrote a letter to the Union Minister of Education informing him of the dissatisfaction of academics, teachers and students with the Odisha University ordinance and urging them to intervene in the matter.

 In his letter, Mr. Pradhan said there was a strong reaction in the state's intelligentsia to the state government's massive reduction in the autonomy of the state's higher education system.  In addition, Mr. Pradhan sent a letter of complaint submitted by Prof. MC Das and Prof. GBN Chini to the Union Minister of Education informing them of the issues raised by them.  In his letter, Mr. Pradhan noted that in order to reduce the autonomy of universities, the University of Odisha Act 16 has been amended and the Ravensa University Act 2005 has been repealed and the universities have been brought under the auspices of the state government.

 Underscoring the important role of the syndicate, it has been forcibly shifted to include a government representative in the Chancellor Search Committee, which the state government has enacted in its ordinance to make it bureaucratic.  The register of government officials appointed by the state government is to be made the editor of the syndicate.  The Odisha Public Service Commission has been given the responsibility of completing the role of professors, assistant professors and the university in the selection process of the faculty.  This will destroy the academic atmosphere of the university.  In addition, the Chancellor’s regulated system has been terminated by taking charge of the Staff Selection Commission to recruit non-teaching staff.  The tradition of submitting university audit reports to the Legislature has been put to an end.  In Odisha, the next round of auditions is against the law in other states.  In his letter, Mr. Pradhan said that education could not go against the state government's legal center policy as education was on the joint list in the constitutional system.

 In his letter, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the Andhra Pradesh Osmania University Teachers' Union v. Andhra Pradesh case ruled that the law was likely to be rejected by the Odisha court in the wake of the state's rejection of such a law.  Mr. Pradhan informed the Union Minister of Education that the Odisha University Ordinance 2020 is in violation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new National Education Policy 2020 policy to promote educational research through autonomy to the institutions of education.