Revision petition, ordinance in pipeline to resume mining in Goa: Minister
Panaji, May 26: The Central government will soon file a revision petition in the Supreme Court seeking direction to resume mining operations in Goa, which stands banned following directions from the apex court in March this year, a Union Minister said on Saturday.
Talking to reporters at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s state headquarters here, Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik said an ordinance could also be issued by the Centre to pave the way for resumption of mining activity in the state.
"We are working hard to resume mining in Goa. Work is on fast-track. The state government is in touch with the Centre over the issue," Naik told the media.
"The (option of) ordinance is also there. It is a matter of livelihood of our people. We have convinced the Centre about our case."
On March 15 this year, the Supreme Court had banned all mining activity, including transportation of iron ore from Goa's 88 mining leases, and directed the state government to re-issue the leases.
Mining was first banned in 2012 following a series of ban orders from the state government, central government and the Supreme Court, after a Rs 35,000-crore illegal mining was revealed by a judicial commission.
The ban was later lifted in 2014, but the apex court while reprimanding the state government over hurried renewal of mining leases in favour of same mining companies linked to the scam, scrapped all the 88 operational mining leases, and directed the state government to issue the leases afresh as per the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act, which mandates auctioning of major mineral resources.
The mining ban has resulted in a lot of pressure on the ruling parties, with locals residing in the mining belt -- which is spread over nearly one-third of the 40 assembly constituencies -- urging their elected representatives to resume operations at the earliest.
Earlier this week, Vijai Sardesai, Town and Country Planning Minister in the BJP-led coalition government and president of the Goa Forward Party, issued a warning to the BJP that his party would rethink supporting the BJP in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections if the mining crisis was not resolved at the earliest.
The BJP has 14 MLAs in the 40-member Goa Legislative Assembly and currently occupies the treasury benches with the help of three MLAs each from Goa Forward Party and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, as well as three Independent MLAs.
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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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