Bengaluru:The State government introduced a new Bill in the Legislative Assembly yesterday that will bring in sweeping changes and alters the way how State Universities appoint teaching staff and operate on a day-to-day basis, giving more control to the State government.

The Bill aims to have a greater say in selecting Vice-Chancellors, and will empower common boards to handle recruitment and civil engineering work. The objective is to bring transparency to all decisions regarding recruitments and administration.

Higher Education Minister Basavaraja Rayareddy piloted the Karnataka State Universities Bill of 2017 in the Assembly that seeks to amend the Act of 2000. As many as 17 State Universities including University of Mysore and the Karnataka State Open University will be governed under this comprehensive law.

Under the provisions of the new Bill, a common board will be appointed to recruit teaching staff and infrastructure projects worth more than Rs. 1 crore will need approval from an infrastructure committee headed by the Minister for Higher Education.

Also, the Governor, who is the Chancellor of all State Universities, will be required to consult the State government before taking decisions pertaining to the Universities.

The Bill provides for two government nominees on the search-and-selection committees to appoint Vice-Chancellors. At present it has one. In all, nominees go up from four to five. A nominee of the government will be the Chairman of the committee. It is now headed by a nominee of the Chancellor.

The committee will comprise eminent academics not below the rank of sitting or former Vice-Chancellors, or Directors of institutes of national importance. Only a person with 25 years of teaching experience with at least 10 years as professor can apply for the post of VC. The committee can give a list of three candidates (in alphabetical order) to the Chancellor. The Chancellor will then have to consult the government before finalising a candidate.

In case of charges of irregularities and corruption against the VC, the Chancellor, in consultation with the government, can order an enquiry by a sitting or retired judge of High Court or Supreme Court.

A common recruitment board for both teaching and non-teaching streams means assistant professors will be selected through a common merit pool. Aspirants to teaching posts will have to appear for verbal and practical tests. A video recording of their teaching will be hosted on a website for evaluation by subject experts.

The government plans to set up a common board to build infrastructure at the Universities. “Any work worth more than Rs. 1 crore has to get the approval of the State government. If it is above Rs. 10 crore, the Cabinet’s approval is mandatory,” Rayareddy said.

When the bill becomes law, the Senate, Syndicate and Executive Council will be called?Executive Council and Academic Council. The minimum qualification to be nominated as a Syndicate member is post-graduation. The Controller of Examination will replace the existing Registrar (evaluation).