Karnataka govt condemns graft charges levelled by contractors body
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday condemned the 40 per cent commission allegations made by the State contractors association, calling it 'baseless' and asked it to prove with evidence.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who termed the allegations as "nothing but politically motivated", hit out at the Congress, which along with the association is demanding a judicial probe.
"I demand details and evidence for allegations made; if given, will an order inquiry in 24 hours", Bommai said.
The contractors' association has renewed its 40 per cent commission charge and said that it would continue its fight demanding an independent judicial inquiry.
An association delegation, led by its president D Kempanna, had on Wednesday met Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Siddaramaiah and later alleged that the whole system was corrupt.
He accused Ministers and MLAs of demanding a percentage, and that they would be writing another letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard.
"The cabinet informally discussed it (commission charge), this is not an issue that brings pride to the state. If anyone has to make any charge or make any allegations they will have to provide evidence...we are saddened by such baseless allegations and as a government we condemn it," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy said.
Speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting, he said, "If they have evidence, let them give it to Lokayukta who is a judicial officer or at least to the media, instead just making a statement calling all 224 MLAs as corrupt will not bring respect to the state. If they provide evidence we will initiate an inquiry, we are not here to protect anyone."
Ahead of the cabinet briefing, Bommai said the intention of Kempanna and team is clear from the fact that they met Siddaramaiah, before making the allegations.
Pointing to Kempanna's claim that corruption existed in earlier governments too, and all parties and all legislators are involved, without any evidence, the CM questioned as to why he and his associates were silent during the previous government's tenure.
"First of all, if there is any instance (of corruption) there should be a complaint, there should be an accused and evidence to establish how it happened, without any of this, just giving a press statement and demanding a judicial inquiry is not right," he said.
Seeking to know whether Congress leaders were "Satya Harishchandra" for demanding judicial probe without any evidence, he said, "Has Siddaramaiah forgotten that there were several scams during his government, did he order judicial probe, and what has come out from those given?"
"These are attempts to make up false cases with irresponsible comments", Bommai alleged saying that there is an independent Lokayukta to investigate corruption charges, and any one can lodge a complaint if they have evidence and they will investigate.
Highlighting measures taken by the government after a meeting with the contractors' delegation a few months ago, the CM said, just making sweeping remarks that officials are not following the orders of the government will not do, let them give names and provide evidence.
"Till now, Kempanna has been making vague allegations, this is the first time he has named Minister Munirathna, who has reacted stating that he will file a defamation suit if allegations are not proved. So there will be action for baseless allegations," he noted.
Kempanna on Wednesday accused the Kolar district in-charge Minister (Munirathna), without mentioning names, of threatening officials to collect and get the money.
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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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