Tamil Nadu opposes repeal of UGC Act
Chennai, July 14 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Saturday strongly opposed the draft bill on Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Act 2018.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the text of which was released to the media here, Palaniswami said: "The Government of Tamil Nadu is of the view that the existing institutional arrangement of the University Grants Commission (UGC) with both regulatory and financial powers is functioning well.
"There is no need to disband the UGC and replace it with Higher Education Commission of India with only regulatory powers."
According to the Chief Minister, the UGC at present is entrusted with the responsibilities of maintaining, monitoring and improving the standards of teaching and research in Higher Educational Institutions.
It also has the power of sanctioning funds under various schemes, which has been in vogue since 1956 without any complaints.
"The UGC has the required capacity for objective evaluation of the proposals received and sanction funds in a transparent manner," he said.
Palaniswami expressed Tamil Nadu's strong reservation and apprehension to the proposed draft bill under which the financial powers are proposed to be transferred to the Ministry of Human Resource (MHRD) or some other body.
He said based on Tamil Nadu's experience, the sanction of funds objectively based on merits has not been very positive by various ministries of the Government of India.
"Further, if this financial power is taken over by the MHRD, we apprehend that the funding pattern would change from 100 per cent funding to 60:40 ratio between Government of India and the State Government," he added.
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BJP, TMC hail SC directions on counting of votes for West Bengal polls
Kolkata (PTI): The BJP and TMC on Saturday both hailed the SC directions on the Election Commission's circular over the deployment of central government personnel for vote counting in West Bengal.
The apex court on Saturday said no further order was necessary on the TMC's plea challenging the Calcutta High Court's dismissal of its petition against the April 13 circular.
In a social media post, BJP leader Amit Malviya said, "In yet another legal setback, the Supreme Court has refused to intervene. The Trinamool Congress had approached the court challenging the exclusion of state government employees from vote-counting supervisor duties, and had sought an urgent hearing."
"The refusal to entertain this plea underscores a clear message -- attempts to influence or cast doubt over the integrity of the counting process will not find easy validation. Another day, another judicial rebuff for Mamata Banerjee," he added.
The TMC, however, claimed that the SC directions vindicated its stand.
"The issue raised before the Hon'ble Supreme Court pertained to the implementation of the said communication in a manner whereby only Central Government/Central PSU employees were being appointed as Counting Supervisors and Counting Assistants for counting of votes," the party said in a statement.
The TMC said it was highlighted that such an interpretation and implementation of the communication would be contrary to the framework of a fair and balanced counting process.
"After hearing the parties, the Hon'ble Supreme Court directed that Clause 1 of the communication dated 13.04.2026, relating to the appointment of Counting Supervisors and Counting Assistants, must be read along with the salient feature contained in the second page of the said communication, which provides for random selection of both State Government and Central Government employees," it said.
"The Hon'ble Supreme Court has further recorded the undertaking of Mr Dama Seshadri Naidu, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the Election Commission of India that the said communication shall be followed in its letter and spirit," it added.
The TMC said that in view of the directions, it is expected that the counting of votes shall be conducted in a fair, transparent, and balanced manner.
A special bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi said the EC can choose the counting personnel, and its April 13 circular, which provides for deployment of state government employees as well, cannot be said to be incorrect.
The poll body said the apprehensions of TMC of any wrongdoing are misplaced, as the circular very clearly states that there will be a mix of central and state government employees.
The EC assured the court that the circular would be implemented in letter and spirit, and there would be state government employees also during the counting of votes on May 4.
Polling for the 294-member West Bengal assembly was held in two phases -- April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes will be taken up on May 4.
On April 30, the Calcutta High Court dismissed the TMC's petition against the Election Commission circular, saying there was no illegality in the poll panel's decision to appoint counting supervisors and assistants from Central government and Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) employees, instead of the state government staff.
