SC stays Orissa HC's order that held UGC Regulations 2018 not binding on State Universities

New Delhi [India], May 20 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday stayed for three months Orissa High Court order which holds that the UGC (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) Regulations, 2018 are not binding on State Universities in Odisha.
A bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari also issued notice on the plea filed by UGC.
The UGC had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Orissa High Court order. UGC was represented by the Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, and UGC's Standing Counsel, Apoorv Kurup.
As the UGC Regulations of 2018 expressly provide that they are binding upon State universities, the UGC said as it found the High Court of Orissa judgment erroneous.
High Court of Orissa in its judgment held that the UGC (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) Regulations, 2018 are not binding on State Universities in Odisha and that such universities would be governed by the Orissa Universities Act, 1989 (as amended in 2020) rather than the UGC's Regulations of 2018.
The UGC prescribes the minimum standards for appointment/promotion of teaching Staff in Universities and Colleges across the country through UGC (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) Regulations, 2018 and the same is binding on all Universities, the commission said.
The Odisha Government has brought the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act, 2020. Subsequently, OUA 2020 was challenged in a batch of writ petitions before High Court of Orissa averring inter alia that OUA 2020 is repugnant to the UGC (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) Regulations, 2018 that govern the minimum qualification of teachers, manner of appointing VCs and other service conditions of teaching and non-teaching staff, the petitioner said.
The petitioner further said that the provisions of the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act, 2020 are violative of the relevant provisions of the aforementioned UGC Regulations in respect of selection and appointment as Vice-Chancellors, and Teaching Faculty in the universities. (ANI)