Nine varsities in J&K without Chancellor, major decisions hit

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 21

After the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh, the nine universities in the newly formed UT of J&K are without Chancellor hampering high-level decisions.

After the implementation of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act-2019, the nine universities, which have nearly 3 lakh students studying in them, are functioning without the top heads — Pro-Chancellor and Chancellor. Earlier, the Governor would act as the Chancellor of these varsities and the Chief Minister would act as the Pro-Chancellor, but as the region is being directly governed by New Delhi the varsities are without top heads, who take the big decision in them.

“Normally two council meetings would be chaired by the Chancellor in the universities in a year to take major decisions and this has hampered many decisions as they need a veto by the Chancellor,” said an official at a university.

There are nine universities in J&K where the policy-making decisions have been hampered. The universities are Kashmir University (KU), Jammu University (JU), Cluster University Srinagar (CUS) and Cluster University Jammu (CUJ), one each Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology in Kashmir and Jammu, Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU), Rajouri, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra (SMVDU).

As per the University Act, the Governor heads a university as its Chancellor with a mandate to take and approve all major policy decisions of the university but after the reorganisation of the state the Act is to be amended.

“In the newly formed UT, the University Act has to be amended by the President of India in consultation with the MHRD because in a UT the universities are directly governed by Central laws,” the official said, adding that the amendment was yet to be done.

As per the existing Act, the Lt-Governor cannot act as the Chancellor of a university and there is a need of some amendment even if he is made the Chancellor of these universities. Officials in these universities said the delay in the appointment of the Chancellor left the implementation of major policy decisions in a limbo.

A top official in KU said the last meeting of the University Council of KU and JU was convened on October 21, 2019, under the chairmanship of then Governor Satya Pal Malik, who was the Chancellor of both the universities. The official said since then there had been no meeting of the council where usually important academic decisions were taken and implemented.

“Major decisions await approval of Chancellor and they cannot be implemented before his appointment,” the official maintained.

A senior official in the government said the decision about the appointment of the Chancellor was being taken soon as the government had been informed about the issues that the universities were facing. “There will be something about it soon,” the official said.