Dileep row: Superstar Mohanlal's stock falls with Kerala Women's Commission
Kochi, June 28 : Superstar Mohanlal, who leads the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes, came under fire from the Kerala Women's Commission on Thursday over the decision to reinstate accused actor Dileep into the artistes' body.
Dileep is an accused in the February 2017 actress kidnapping case which took place in Kochi, that landed him in a Kerala jail for 85 days.
Breathing fire on Mohanlal, Commission Chairperson M.C. Josephine reminded that AMMA's Sunday decision led by the superstar was flawed. "No doubt, Mohanlal's stocks have definitely fallen," said Josephine to the media. This was the first decision taken by the new committee under Mohanlal.
Her statement came a day after four leading actresses, including the kidnap victim, resigned from AMMA.
"After this decision, the name of the organisation AMMA (mother) does not suit it anymore. The ruling Left government and the CPI-M party should look into this," added Josephine.
Dileep's reinstatement has become the centre of a row following the newly formed Women in Cinema Collective's (WCC) Facebook post on Monday and the subsequent resignation by four leading actresses from AMMA on Wednesday.
Even, Kerala Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty on Thursday expressed surprise in the manner in which AMMA had revoked Dileep's suspension.
"It should not be forgotten that actors are icons and they should be perfect role models, but this decision that they took is baffling and not tenable.
"It's surprising that the two legislators -- Mukesh of the CPI-M and K.B. Ganesh Kumar, supporting the ruling Left government -- were also party to the decision," said Mercykutty .
PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran said that he never had a good opinion about Dileep. "He is an arrogant person. I fully support the four actress who quit AMMA, as none with any self respect can continue in the same organisation," said Sudhakaran.
Everyone is now awaiting superstar Mammootty's decision. It was Mammootty, who had announced the decision to remove Dileep from AMMA to the media, then.
However, Mammootty for the first time in several years, is not an office bearer anymore.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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