No threat to autonomy of States, says Pradhan

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday dispelled the Opposition’s concerns that the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, would undermine institutional autonomy and said the States would retain similar powers as they have presently.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pradhan moved a resolution to refer the Bill proposing to set up a 13-member body for regulating higher education institutions to a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament. The proposal was approved by voice vote in the House.

“There is no threat to institutional autonomy and even if the Opposition has some concerns or misconceptions, they can be addressed by the JPC. The powers with the States will remain as they are at present,” Pradhan said at a Press conference.

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier named the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) 2025, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which seeks to merge three existing regulators — the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) — into a unified commission called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.

Currently, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions in India, the AICTE oversees technical education and the NCTE regulates teacher education. Under the proposed commission, there will be three councils for regulation, accreditation and ensuring academic standards for universities

and Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in India. The members of the opposition have raised concerns that it could undermine institutional autonomy.

Congress MP Manish Tewari had on Monday said the Bill may lead to “excessive centralisation” of education. He said the Bill suffers from excessive delegation of legislative power, ranging from accreditation frameworks, the degree of granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy and even supersession, which are left to be determined by rules, regulations and executive direction. DMK MP TM Selvaganapathy claimed that the Union Government will practically be the sole decision-making authority if the Bill is passed, which is against the spirit of the Constitution.