Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The Orissa High Court disposed of all the three writ petitions that had challenged the validity of the amendments incorporated by the state government into several provisions of the Odisha Universities Act of 1989 in November 2020.
According to the reports, the Amendment Act of 2020, which was notified in the Odisha Gazette and came into force on September 4, 2020, was upheld by a Bench headed by Chief Justice S Muralidhar on January 24 observing that the changes made in the procedure of recruitment of vice-chancellors and teachers for various universities are not unconstitutional.
Biswabasu Dash, an office-bearer of the state unit of All India Save Education Committee, Kunja Behary Panda and five other teachers of various universities of Odisha and Ajit Kumar Mohanty, a National fellow of JNU had challenged the amended Act, in which, the common respondents were the state government, UGC and the Union government.
The High Court also observed that the changes made in the procedure of recruitment of vice-chancellors and other teaching staff are not manifested arbitrarily. The contention on behalf of the state that the amendment does not dilute the minimum standards for the appointment of a VC, merits acceptance, the High Court observed.
