Srinagar: The Administrative Council (AC) which met here Saturday under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha gave a nod to the Jammu and Kashmir Public University Bill, 2022.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that the AC said that 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 J&K.
The AC said that 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.
It said that the NEP 2020 envisages fundamental transformation in the structure of higher education by mandating all affiliated colleges to either multidisciplinary research or teaching universities or degree-awarding autonomous institutions by 2035.
The AC said that the salient features of the current draft include an emphasis on uniformity and flexibility in working at all the higher educational institutions.
It said that several new provisions have also been introduced to make the functioning of universities transparent and accountable through transparent procedures and public disclosures.
The AC said that to make the recruitment process fully transparent and merit-based, screening by the Public Service Commission and reduction in weightage to interview had been proposed for gazetted positions.
It said that for the non-gazetted positions, it has been proposed to do away with interviews altogether and conduct recruitment through the Service Selection Board.
The AC said that the screening, and recruitment by Public Service Commissions and Service Selection Boards had been introduced in varying measures by other states like Odisha, Bihar, and Jharkhand.
The spokesman said that Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar and Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta also attended the meeting.