Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday urged Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto to set up a committee of assembly to review the status of private universities in the state.
Soren's comment came in the House after the government withdrew the Jain University Bill, 2022, citing an anomaly in it. “More than 20 university bills have so far been passed through the assembly in the state. I would like to request the Speaker to form a committee of assembly to study the status of these universities and submit a report in the House so that higher education could be made better in the state,” Soren said.
Advertisement
Earlier, three BJP, one AJSU and a CPI (ML) legislators urged the government to send the Bill to the select committee for a review. Bagodar MLA Vinod Kumar Singh alleged that a single society is opening universities under different names. BJP legislators Manish Jaiswal, Anant Ojha, Amit Mandal and AJSU legislator Lambodar Mahto also claimed that the private universities are "lacking proper infrastructure and not following the specific guidelines".
State minister Mithilesh Thakur admitted some flaws in the Bill and revoked it. As many as five bills, including two university bills, were passed in the assembly by voice vote. The Jharkhand Municipality (Amendment) Bill 2022 was among three amendment bills passed, which provisions reservation for a mayoral seat based on the population of a particular area. Earlier, the post of mayor and zilla parishad chairperson saw a five-year term on a rotation basis. Due to this provision, the Ranchi mayor’s post has been reserved for an SC category candidate in the upcoming civic body polls, which was earlier allotted to a nominee belonging to the ST category. The government brought the amendment following protests from the different tribal organisations.
