DU appoints ABVP's Shakti Singh as DUSU president
New Delhi, Jan 15: The Delhi University on Tuesday formally promoted DUSU vice-president Shakti Singh to the post of president.
In an official communication, the varsity said, "In compliance with the order of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court dated December 18, 2018, the DUSU Election Committee 2018-19 declared the promotion of Mr Shakti Singh, vice-president DUSU 2018-19 as President 2018-19."
Singh said that the decision came late which has hampered the working of the students' union but said he would try to make the optimum use of the less time he has as the DUSU president.
The NSUI said that the BJP is capturing institutions and where it cannot, people are shunted out or even thrown out.
"The checks and balances of democracy cannot handle bullies. The only recourse is to throw these guys out," they said.
The Left-backed All India Students' Association also slammed the varsity's decision and accused them of deliberately delaying the verification of Baisoya's mark sheets so that the president's post could go to Singh.
The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's Singh had taken over as the students body's president last month.
The Delhi High Court had dismissed a plea by the Congress-backed National Students' Union of India leader Sunny Chillar challenging the election of DUSU ex-president Ankiv Baisoya for allegedly furnishing a fake bachelor's degree to get admission in the university.
According to the Lyngdoh Committee Guidelines, which are applicable to the DUSU polls, "In the event of the office of any major post of office bearer falling vacant within two months of elections, re-elections should be conducted; otherwise, the vice-president may be promoted to the post of president."
The ABVP had cited the above guidelines as Singh assumed office last month.
The Delhi University cancelled the admission of Baisoya on November 14 after receiving a letter from Thiruvalluvar University confirming that his bachelor's degree was fake.
Baisoya was also suspended from ABVP and an inquiry into allegations that he got admission in the varsity on the basis of a fake marksheet was ordered. Police have also registered an FIR in the case.
The DUSU elections were held in September.
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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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