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High Court Directs Govt to Form Committee for Academic Reforms in J&K Degree Colleges

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

A Division Bench of the High Court of J&K and Ladakh has directed the government to form a high-level committee to examine the quality of faculty and standard of education in Government Degree Colleges. The court has ordered the committee to be headed by the Chief Secretary, with the Secretaries to Government, Department of Higher Education, General Administration Department, Finance Department, and Law Department as members.

The court observed that the government has "compromised both the quality of faculty and the standard of education imparted in the Government Degree Colleges of the State/UT of Jammu and Kashmir" by resorting to academic arrangements and picking candidates solely on academic merit without a selection process. The court has directed that no fresh academic arrangements shall be made against clear vacancies of Assistant Professors, Librarians, and PTIs borne on the Jammu and Kashmir Education Gazetted Colleges Service Recruitment Rules 2008.

Key Takeaways:

  • A high-level committee has been directed to be formed by the government to examine the quality of faculty and standard of education in Government Degree Colleges.
  • The committee shall consist of the Chief Secretary, Secretaries to Government, Department of Higher Education, General Administration Department, Finance Department, and Law Department as its members.
  • The committee shall examine the desirability of creating additional posts of teaching faculty, Librarians, and PTIs in various degree colleges.
  • All academic arrangements made outside the sanctioned strength of Assistant Professors, Librarians, and PTIs shall be dispensed with from the next academic session.
  • Any such engagements, if made, shall be treated as fresh engagements, purely contractual in nature, and shall not confer any right of regularization under any law in force.
  • The court's directions shall not be applicable to Teaching Associates engaged on contractual basis their engagements shall be governed by the terms and conditions of their appointments.
  • The regularization of those found entitled under the Act shall be given retrospective effect from the date they are found eligible for such regularization.

Statistics:

  • The court has directed the government to form a high-level committee to examine the quality of faculty and standard of education in Government Degree Colleges.
  • The committee shall consist of the Chief Secretary, Secretaries to Government, Department of Higher Education, General Administration Department, Finance Department, and Law Department as its members.
  • All academic arrangements made outside the sanctioned strength of Assistant Professors, Librarians, and PTIs shall be dispensed with from the next academic session.

Sources:

  • Judgment by the High Court of J&K and Ladakh in connected pleas (no date mentioned)
  • Jammu and Kashmir Education Gazetted Colleges Service Recruitment Rules 2008 (no date mentioned)
  • Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 (no date mentioned)

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