Amendment to Section 21

In the Principal Act, for Section 21, the following section shall be substituted, namely:─

1. (1) On and from the commencement of the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2024, but subject to the provisions hereafter provided, the direct recruitment to the posts of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor and other academic staff in the University shall be, on the basis of merit through an all India advertisement, followed by a duly constituted selection committee as provided hereunder and following UGC Regulations issued from time to time, on minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers and other academic staff in Universities and Colleges and measures for maintenance of standards in Higher Education and in the manner as provided under this Act.
2. (2) Unless otherwise provided in this Act and not contrary to the UGC Regulations as provided, all teachers and other academic staff of the University, as prescribed by UGC, shall be appointed by the Syndicate which is the Appointing Authority, in the manner prescribed below; (3)
   • (a) For such appointment of teachers in the University, there shall be a selection committee which shall consist of the following members as per the relevant UGC Regulations, along with other members namely:-
     • (i) Vice-Chancellor or his nominee as Chairperson.
     • (ii) One academician not below the rank of Professor nominated by the Chancellor;
     • (iii) three subject experts selected by the Vice-Chancellor out of the panel of names, recommended by the syndicate;
     • (iv) Dean of the Faculty or Head of the Department as applicable; and
     • (v) One academician from SC/ST/OBC/Women/Minority/PWD as per the candidate present, to be nominated by the Vice-Chancellor, if any, of the selection committee members does not belong to that category ;
   • (b) Four members shall constitute quorum, in which two subject experts members and one academician nominated by the Chancellor is a must.
3. (4) The University, considering the existing and anticipated vacancy of succeeding year, of faculty of the University shall make advertisement of the vacancies through the Registrar as and when required and at least once in a year and invites applications in physical mode and online mode on a digital platform developed for this purpose, from candidates, by way of advertisement in three widely circulated national daily and in three widely circulated local language newspapers as well as in the University website with copy to office of the Chancellor and the Government. (5)
   • (a) Any four members of the concerned school or department or internal quality assurance cell of the concerned department of the University or any other person assigned by the Vice-Chancellor along with Registrar shall scrutinize the applications and shortlist eligible candidates for examination and/or interview, the details of which will be shared with each candidate and will be published in the website.
   • (b) The selection committee thereafter will proceed with the examination and/or interview, following the UGC Regulations in force, for selection of candidates for appointment as faculties and other academic staff, as the case may be, from among the shortlisted candidates;
   • (c) All the members of the Selection Committee are required to furnish a declaration that none of the candidates for whom they have conducted examination and/or interview are related to him in any manner or else the concerned Selection Committee member shall recuse himself.
4. (6) The selection committee soon after completion of the examination and or the interview shall finalize the merit list of the candidates giving due importance to the reservation principle for all categories candidates as per the prevailing law in force and handover the merit list to the Vice-Chancellor for final acceptance by the syndicate on satisfaction.
5. (7) The Vice-Chancellor, shall place the final merit list in order of merit along with relevant records to the syndicate preferably, within a month for approval. After approval by the Syndicate on satisfaction, the same shall be published in order of merit in the website of the University and the website developed for this purpose: Provided that if the Syndicate is unable to accept the recommendations made by the Selection Committee, it shall record its reasons and submit the case to the Chancellor for final orders.whose decision thereon shall be final
6. (8) The final merit list will remain valid for a period of one year or till initiation of next selection process of teachers and other academic staff, whichever is earlier.
7. (9) The Registrar will render all necessary assistance in the selection process of teachers of the University, to the Vice-Chancellor and all the records relating to the selection process will remain in his/her custody for all future reference.
8. (10) For the purpose of maintenance of transparency and fairness in the selection process of teaching faculty in the Universities, the Chancellor may issue necessary guideline, in a manner as prescribed, from time to time.
9. (11) On and from the commencement of the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act, 2024, the probation, confirmation, promotion under career advancement scheme of all the continuing teachers and other academic staff as well as of the newly appointed shall be as per the relevant UGC Regulations on minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers and other academic staff in Universities and colleges and other measures for the maintenance of standards in higher education and the State guidelines, issued in this regard from time-to-time.