KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 22 : On the recommendation of Governor PB Acharya to consider the amendment pertaining to the name St. Joseph Catholic University to St. Joseph University in order to avoid opening the university in the name of any religion, the Nagaland Assembly passed the amendments to St. Joseph University (Nagaland) Bill, 2016. The bill shall come into force on the date appointed by the State Government by notification in the official gazette.
On first day of the 14th session of the 12th Assembly on Tuesday, Parliamentary Secretary for Higher & Technical Education Deo Nukhu moved the bill to consider the amendments recommended by Governor.
In an office memorandum signed by Cabinet Secretary, Pankaj Kumar dated November 19, 2016 stated the Cabinet considered the message of the Governor under Article 200 of the Constitution with regard to the St. Joseph Catholic University (Nagaland) Bill 2016 requesting change of name of St. Joseph Catholic University to St. Joseph University.
It further stated the request has been made on the ground that educational institution should not be named by any particular religion which may give precedence to establish universities in the name of different religion.
The Cabinet observed that there was no bar for such nomenclature and that there were universities in the country such as the Banaras Hindu University and the Aligarh Muslim University.
However, the memorandum further stated that considering that the sponsor namely the DMI Foundation did not have objection to the change of name and also the need to set up the university expeditiously, the Cabinet approved the proposal of Higher & Technical Education Department for change of the name of the proposed university from St. Joseph Catholic University Nagaland to St. Joseph University Nagaland.
The Bill was passed through voice vote that this Bill may be called St Joseph University (Nagaland) (First Amendment) Bill, 2016, and that it shall come into force on the date appointed by the State Government by notification in the official gazette. The word ‘Catholic’ appearing at Sections 1 (1), 2 (1) sub-clause (xxxi) and 3 (2) shall be deleted, the memo added.
