A second central university for Jammu & Kashmir has got legal sanction, with President Pratibha Patil said to have promulgated an ordinance in this regard on Tuesday. A day earlier, the Union Cabinet reportedly approved the same.

The Union Human Resource Development Ministry had recently announced a second central varsity for the state, dropping the proposal for an IIM in J&K in lieu of it. The decision followed a long agitation in J&K over the location of the varsity, with the issue threatening to polarise the state.

According to sources, the ordinance route has been taken to fast-track the setting up of a second central varsity in Jammu as the other 15 central universities set up earlier this year have already started operations.

The ministry will soon be setting up a fresh selection committee to find a vice-chancellor for the Jammu central varsity. Earlier, in May this year, Prof Abdul Wahid was appointed V-C for the other central varsity, which is expected to come up at Ganderbal, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s constituency and an Abdullah stronghold. The Jammu central university is likely to come up in Samba.

The decision to permit two central varsities in J&K was taken after the government felt that the state agitation was more about the need for development than anything else.

Meanwhile, the other central university in the slow lane, in Himachal Pradesh, is also set to take off, with Rajasthan University V-C Furqan Qamar emerging as a frontrunner for the top job in the new varsity.