Maha to make voter registration mandatory for students above 18 years seeking admission to colleges
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government will make it mandatory for students above 18 years of age to get their voter registration done for getting admission to colleges, a state minister has said.
Speaking at a meeting of vice chancellors of non-agriculture universities at the Raj Bhavan here on Thursday, state Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil also said that the government will introduce four-year degree courses from June 2023 as mandated under the National Education Policy (NEP) and the universities will have to implement the decision.
"There is no option for universities as they will have to implement the four-year degree courses from June as mandated under the NEP," he said, warning that action will be taken against those failing to do so.
The government will soon constitute a committee of retired vice-chancellors to address the concerns of vice chancellors over the implementation of the NEP, Patil said.
Taking note of the dismal percentage of voter registration by students of universities and colleges, he said "The government will issue a resolution mandating students to get their voter registration done for getting admission to colleges."
As against the goal of attaining the enrolment of 50 lakhs students in the higher education system, Maharashtra has enrolment of only 32 lakh students, Patil said.
The minister called upon universities to run a campaign to improve the enrolment percentage.
He also said there was a need to take into cognisance the recommendations of NEP regarding providing education in mother tongue and skill development.
State Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari called upon vice chancellors of public universities in Maharashtra to turn universities 'aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant) to attain the goal of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.
"Many private universities are doing well through self finance and distance education programmes," he said, while urging the universities to take steps for effective implementation of the NEP.
The governor, who is also the chancellor of public universities in the state, said the NEP lays thrust on culture and the Indian knowledge system.
He asked vice chancellors to create small advisory committees comprising dedicated officers, professors, young people and resource persons to advise them on the effective implementation of the policy in universities.
The governor said he would hold a follow-up meeting of vice chancellors within six months to discuss what steps were taken on the issues agreed upon in the meeting.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who was present on the occasion, asserted that the state will implement the NEP in the best possible manner.
"The state government has decided to make suitable amendments in the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016 to make the selection process of vice chancellors and pro-vice chancellors in sync with the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC)," he said.
Stating that the process of selection of vice chancellors will be expedited, he said new search committees for the selection of vice chancellors will be constituted soon.
Expressing strong displeasure over the poor performance of some of the universities in key result areas, such as declaration of results of various examinations on time, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis asked the vice chancellors to take note of the lacunae and take corrective steps quickly.
Expressing the need for bringing a robust digital system to make the implementation of NEP effective, Fadnavis called for creating a live dashboard to report the 17 key result areas of the vice chancellors to monitor the situation from time to time.
Laying thrust on greater transparency by educational institutions, Fadnavis said the findings of the college inspection teams should be made available on the websites of the colleges.
He said while good progress is being made in achieving higher gross enrolment in the state, the universities must focus on bringing excellence in education. Fadnavis expressed concern over the low percentage of voter registration among college students.
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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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