Chef Imtiaz Qureshi dies at 93, tributes pour in
New Delhi (PTI): Legendary chef Imtiaz Qureshi, who was known for having revived the old-Lucknowi tradition of dum pukht style of cooking, died of age-related ailments at Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital in the early hours of Friday, his son Ishtiyaque Qureshi told PTI. He was 93.
"He had been admitted in the hospital for the last 14 days. There was no one specific health condition. He was diabetic, so there were problems related to that," Ishtiyaque said.
He added that his father spent time with family members last night and also talked to his grandchildren through video call.
"At around 4 am this morning, his condition deteriorated as his oxygen saturation level also dropped. The doctors tried but could not revive him," his son said.
The last rites were performed in the afternoon.
Qureshi is survived by five sons and two daughters.
Born on February 2, 1931 in Lucknow, Qureshi is credited to be the mastermind behind some of the iconic hotels across the country, including the world-renowned brands like Delhi's Dum Pukht and Bukhara at ITC Maurya.
Throughout a career spanning over five decades, Qureshi served several lavish banquets to the the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi in the 1960s.
For his contributions to the culinary arts, the chef was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri in 2016, becoming the first in the chef community to receive it.
Tributes poured in on social media for the late chef.
"With great sadness and a heavy heart, I regret to inform you of the heartbreaking news of the passing of Padmashree Chef Mr. Imtiaz Qureshi, who departed from this world earlier this morning. His culinary legacy and contributions will forever be remembered and cherished. May his soul find eternal peace and may his memory continue to inspire us all," chef Kunal Kapur posted on X.
Ranveer Brar remembered his days as a trainee chef at the Taj Palace and going to ITC Maurya next door to have Galouti Kebab at Dum Pukht and called it a "life changing" experience.
"As a Lucknow boy with dreams of becoming a chef, the folklore of Imtiaz Qureshi is something I grew up with. It was around 1998-1999 when I was working as a trainee chef at the Taj Palace in Delhi. I remember once taking the Rs. 612/- I had earned to ITC Maurya next door and having only the Galouti Kebab at Dum Pukht. The fact that I was eating @LegendOfImtiaz Qureshi's food in an ITC hotel was life changing for me," Brar wrote on X.
He added, "Not only had he pulled the dum pukht technique out of Lucknow, he had given it a personality, an unmistakable refinement. RIP chef, your legacy lives on forever."
Food critic Vir Sanghvi also took to X and credited Qureshi for inventing the dum pukht biryani and transforming North Indian restaurant food.
"Rest In Peace Imtiaz Qureshi who, in his years at @ITCHotels, transformed North Indian restaurant food by popularising the haute cuisine of Awadh and who invented the Dum Pukth biryani that is still the model for all North Indian biryani served everywhere in the world," Sanghvi posted.
Singer Adnan Sami paid condolences to Qureshi and termed him "the modern day father of Awadhi cuisine".
"Sad to learn that Padma Shri Master Chef Imtiaz Qureshi has passed away. He was a culinary genius & a man full of zeal for life!! He was also the modern day father of Awadhi Cuisine & his Biryani was legendary amongst everything else he fed the world. My deepest heartfelt condolences to his family. ?????? ?????? ????????? ???????? ???????? May Allah SWT bless him in Jannat-ul-Firdaus...Ameen," Sami said.
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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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