Five-member committee to take decisions on university appointments: Haryana CM

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said a five-member committee will be constituted for taking decisions regarding appointments to different posts in universities of the state. Speaking in the state assembly, he noted that the committee will include chancellor (Governor), principal secretary of Higher Education Department, and vice chancellors of three universities.

The chief minister said instructions of the University Grants Commission (UGC) will be complied with. The appointments in universities will be done in a transparent manner and on the basis of merit only, he said. The autonomy of universities will remain intact, he asserted. Khattar was answering questions raised by the opposition during the Winter Session of Vidhan Sabha. Opposition Congress MLAs had last week alleged that the BJP-led government in Haryana was trying to infringe upon the autonomy of universities and control the institutions by implementing its own ideology.

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They had said the government's decision to appoint teaching and non-teaching staff at state universities through HSSC and HPSC was a "direct attack on the autonomy of the universities". “The government's move will have an adverse effect on education and research work in the universities,” seven Congress MLAs had said in their calling attention notice, which was taken up on the opening day of the Haryana Assembly's winter session here on Friday.

Meanwhile, during Wednesday's assembly session, Khattar demanded that Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda officially share a copy of the chat after the latter had on Monday cited an unverified communication doing rounds on social media platforms, where two persons are involved in a conversation regarding the recruitments done by HPSC and the role of money in it.

The chief minister requested the Speaker to thoroughly investigate the “chat document” read in the House by the opposition leader two days ago. The opposition Congress had on Monday demanded a CBI probe under supervision of a high court judge and the removal of Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) chairman, stating that he cannot be absolved of his responsibility in the alleged scam which has surfaced in the recruitment of dental surgeons.

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Meanwhile, Khattar said the main goal of the state government is to bring reforms in the system and constant work is being done to resolve every problem being faced by the common man. He said Haryana Law Commission is being constituted which will review those laws which have become obsolete with time.

This Commission will study the laws and the outdated laws will be scrapped or modified, he said. The chief minister added that the state has decided to increase the rate of dearness allowance for its employees and dearness relief for pensioners and family pensioners from 28 per cent of basic pay and pension to 31 per cent with effect from July 1, 2021.

Besides this, the government has also decided to increase the share of National Pension Scheme implemented for new employees from 10 per cent to 14 per cent on the lines of the central government which will be implemented from January 1, 2022, he announced. Khattar said a new system is going to be started in the House under which written answers to questions raised by MLAs in Zero hour will be given by the government to the MLA concerned within a period of one month.

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