Bill cleared in October 2019
Srinagar, Mar 03: The administration of Jammu & Kashmir is yet to set-up the National Law University in the Union Territory despite a bill for it getting assent from Raj Bhavan nearly one-and-a-half year ago.
Officials told news agency—that the bill for establishing the National Law University was given nod by J&K’s last Governor Satya Pal Malik in October 2019 before formal re-organisation of the erstwhile State.
“The bill was passed by the J&K Legislative Assembly in 2018 when PDP-BJP government was ruling the state. Then Governor NN Vohra raised certain clarifications over the legislative proposal but his predecessor Satya Pal Malik cleared it,” they said, adding that subsequently the law was amended through an executive order by the Central government to replace Chief Minister with Chief Justice of J&K High Court as chancellor of the university.
According to officials, since then, there has no headway in setting up the university. “The university is still on papers. Why administration cannot run the university from a rented building as other states have done?” asked an official.
It is worthwhile to mention that the proposal to establish a law university in J&K was mooted in 2015 when Syed Basharat Bukhari was minister in-charge Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
A team of J&K government comprising Bukhari and officials, Muhammad Ashraf Mir and Abdul Majid Bhat visited different law universities varsities to get the first-hand information about their functioning.
The bill for setting up the varsity was introduced in the J&K Assembly in 2018 when Abdul Haq Khan was minister in-charge Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
The bill was passed by both the Houses of J&K legislature despite members from the opposition suggesting the government to send it to a select committee for examination.
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