The State Government has constituted a committee to work out modalities to establish Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University and Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University in Andhra Pradesh.
The committee has Inspector General of Registration and Stamps and Director, Andhra Pradesh Telugu and Sanskrit Academi V. Ramakrishna as its Chairman, Joint Director, AP State Council of Higher Education T.V. Krishna Murthy as Member-Convenor and OSD, Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University V. Nireekshana Babu, OSD, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University Velaga Joshi and Deputy Secretary, Department of Higher Education Ch. Venkateswara Rao as members.
The Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University came into existence in the erstwhile composite State of Andhra Pradesh through “Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University Act, 1982” and similarly, Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University came into being through “The Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University Act, 1985”.
The two universities are specified in the X-Schedule under A.P. Reorganisation Act, 2014. In compliance with the High Court interim directions in its order delivered on September 6 in 2015, Andhra Pradesh State has been reimbursing the expenditure to universities every year from 2015 onwards. The universities located in Hyderabad have been collecting the student fee on the admissions of students admitted into the study centres located in Andhra Pradesh.
Division of the universities is one of the several unresolved issues waiting to be addressed for the last 10 years. The bifurcated Andhra Pradesh has 76 study centres of the B.R. Ambedkar Open University with 26 regular employees and 456 part-time employees besides 13 pensioners.
Sources said that though the university in Hyderabad collects an annual revenue of ₹11 crore through the more than 30,000 students pursuing a degree, PG and diploma courses in the institution, besides an additional collection of ₹36 lakh towards GPF and other components, it does not transfer any funds to Andhra Pradesh, forcing the government to pay the employees’ salaries here.
The constitution of a committee to study the division of the universities is seen as a step in the right direction as it may resolve a long-pending issue in the education sector.
