JOIN USThe University Grants Commission (UGC) has spoilt the Centre’s efforts to bring in new regulations for private universities, provisions of which sought to effectively maintain their standards and check irregularities in their functioning.
After almost five years of consultation, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry finalised the new regulations and sent it to the UGC for its drafting in a proper legal format earlier this year.
The higher education regulator, however, sent the ministry a “completely new” set of regulations for establishing standards and maintenance of private universities only after getting it approved at the full commission meeting in September, official sources told Deccan Herald.
For drafting the new regulations, the UGC had set up an expert committee, which not only amended certain provisions that were made in the original draft of the regulations but also “completely” changed language of other provisions made in the previous one.
Interestingly, the original regulations, finalised by the ministry, had proposed restricting private universities from opening their off campus beyond the territorial jurisdiction of their states. The ministry had brought in this provision in view of various complaints about some of the private universities opening their campuses abroad and duping students, sources said.
The UGC, however, dropped this provision in the new draft of the regulations to allow private universities open their off campuses even abroad, with the permission of the government. “The commission has used its power, vested into it through the UGC Act, to thrust the new regulations on the ministry at a time when all the provisions made in the previous one was vetted by the law ministry and its notification was only left to happen. The ministry can not formulate any regulations,” official sources said.
The original regulations, finalised by the ministry, were vetted by the law ministry thrice. “The ministry held several rounds of consultation, sent clarifications to the questions of the law ministry and gave a final shape to the original regulations, which was actually drafted by the UGC itself and sent to the ministry in 2010,” the sources said
Though the ministry would take up the matter with the UGC again for accepting its suggestions, the notification of the regulations for private universities would take more time, he added.