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The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday passed the Himachal Pradesh State Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2026 by voice vote.

After the passing of this bill, the way has been cleared for the recruitment of professors and other employees in all the six government universities of the state. Now these recruitments will be conducted through Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) and State Selection Commission.

However, as before, the recruitment of associate professors will be done by the respective universities only.

According to the bill, Himachal Pradesh Finance Secretary Abhishek Jain will be the chairman of the finance committees of all the six universities.

Also, the Executive Council (EC) of the universities will have to accept the recommendations of the committee headed by the Finance Secretary in financial matters.

Responding to the discussion on the bill, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said that the state government should also consider conducting recruitment to class III and IV posts through the Selection Commission or any other similar institution.

He also said that the state government is also considering the possibility of conducting the examinations of private universities through a nodal agency.

The Chief Minister said that the implementation of this bill will ensure accountability of finance committees.

He claimed that recruitment through the Selection Commission will bring transparency in the process and eligible candidates will be selected on the basis of merit, which will benefit the youth.

At the same time, during the discussion on the bill, BJP MLA Randhir Sharma called it an attack on the autonomy of universities.

He said that universities get grants not only from the state government but also from the University Grants Commission (UGC). Therefore, the government should have considered what impact it will have on the grants received from UGC after the implementation of the bill.

Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur said that this bill will not pass the legal test. He alleged that many bills of the state government have been struck down by the courts in the past also.

On this, Chief Minister Sukhu replied that one or two bills of his government have definitely been repealed and some are pending with the Governor, but the opposition is forgetting that even during the previous BJP government, many bills were rejected by the courts.

During the discussion, political spat was also seen between Chief Minister Sukhu and Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur on many issues including paper leak.

Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi, Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani and MLAs Vipin Singh Parmar, Trilok Jamwal, Harish Janartha and Suresh Kumar also participated in the discussion.