State pitches for UGC recognition for Rajendra varsity

State pitches for UGC recognition for Rajendra varsity

TNN | Jul 18, 2021, 01.42 PM IST

BHUBANESWAR: Rajendra University’s application for the grant of recognition, following its upgrade to a varsity, was rejected by the University Grants Commission (UGC) last year.

However, the matter came to light on Friday when the higher education department wrote a letter to the commission requesting it to re-examine the issue and grant the recognition to the university situated in Balangir district.

The institution had sought recognition according to Section 2(f) of the UGC Act. The commission provides financial assistance to eligible colleges, which are included in Section 2(f), and declared fit to receive central assistance (UGC grant) under Section 12 (B) of the UGC Act, 1956.

The commission had rejected the application for the recognition of the university in December last year saying, “As the university has been notified through a government notification and not established by an Act of the state legislature, it cannot be included in the list of universities established as per Section 2 (f) of the UGC Act, 1956.” In the letter to the UGC, higher education department’s secretary Saswat Mishra said, “It is legally and factually wrong to say that Rajendra University has not been established under any Act of the state legislature. The Odisha Universities Act, 1989 — a valid legislation of the state legislature — empowers the state government to establish new universities by way of notification.”

Mishra further said the government has created several other universities, including the Rama Devi Women’s University, the Fakir Mohan University and GM University Sambalpur under Section 32(1) of the Odisha Universities Act, 1989. Many of these universities have already got UGC recognition under Section 2 (f) of the UGC Act. Denying the same to Rajendra University defies logic, he added.

Rajendra University’s vice-chancellor Umaballava Mohapatra said, “We had applied for the recognition, but the UGC rejected it. According to the Odisha Universities Act, 1989, the state government may establish one or more new universities by altering the territorial jurisdiction of any of the existing universities by notification.”