The resolution was moved in the House by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Credit: PTI Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution demanding the centre to withdraw the draft UGC guidelines.
The CPM-led Left Democratic Front government is also planning to convene a meeting of non-BJP ruling states to mount pressure on the centre on the matter.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan moved the resolution in the assembly demanding the centre to hold talks with all state governments and experts and issue revised guidelines.
"The draft guidelines issued by the UGC are aimed at bringing the higher education sector of the country in the clutches of those preaching communal and extremist ideologies. The house is of the opinion that the draft guidelines were prepared without imbibing the spirit of the Constitution and is against the federal and democratic principles," said the resolution.
According to the resolution, state universities are functioning as per the laws passed by the respective state assemblies. State governments are meeting 80 percent of the expenses of universities and state governments play a key role in ensuring quality of the universities. These facts were ignored while framing the draft guidelines. The proposed provisions to appoint persons from the private sector as vice chancellors will even lead to commercialisation of the universities.
State higher education minister R Bindu said that the state government is planning to conduct a conclave of chief ministers and education ministers of non-BJP ruling states as part of the efforts to mount pressure on the centre to revoke the guidelines. A joint platform of representatives of all state governments opposed to the UGC guidelines would be also formed to resist the centre's moves, she said.