New legislation for centralised regulation of higher education

Patna, Jan 31 (PTI) Bihar government is set to bring anew legislation during the budget session of the statelegislature for ensuring centralised regulation of highereducation, including overseeing all recruitments in highereducation institutions in the state.

The draft of the proposed Bihar State University(constituent and affiliated colleges) Bill, 2011, is ready,state human resource development minister P K Sahi said.

The proposed regulatory-cum-recruitment body would handlethe affairs of universities, constituent colleges andaffiliated colleges, he said.

"Instead of having multiple bodies, it would be much moreefficacious to have one body to deal with matters pertainingto higher education," he said.

"The recruitment process in the universities of Biharwill get underway only after the commission is formed,"official sources said.

Universities in the state have been functioning with just55 per cent of their sanctioned staff strength and are weigheddown by a huge backlog of pending promotions.

These factors have attracted a growing number of courtcases.

The new body is expected to ease the situation.

The Patna High court had last week quashed theappointment of 27 principals of Magadh University and orderedfresh selection.

Once the proposed bill is approved by the statelegislature, the proposed body would handle the appointmentsof principals of different universities in Bihar.