The Administrative Council (AC), which met in Srinagar on Saturday under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, gave its nod to the Jammu and Kashmir Public University Bill, 2022 that will apply to all public universities in the Union Territory of J&K.

The Bill lays emphasis on uniformity and flexibility in working of all higher educational institutions. A number of new provisions have also been introduced to make the functioning of universities transparent and accountable.

For non-gazetted positions, the Bill proposes to do away with interviews altogether and conduct recruitment through the Service Selection Board.

Moreover, the new NEP-2020 also envisages fundamental transformation in the structure of higher education by mandating the transformation of all affiliated colleges to either multidisciplinary research or teaching universities or degree-awarding autonomous institutions by 2035.

Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, and Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, J&K, attended the meeting.