TN House seeks rollback of UGC draft regulations

TN House seeks rollback of UGC draft regulations

TN House seeks rollback of UGC draft regulations ByDivya Chandrababu, Chennai Jan 10, 2025 09:18 AM IST Share Via Copy Link Tamil Nadu assembly passed a resolution on Thursday against the University Grants Commission (UGC) draft that allegedly gave more powers to the governor to select a vice chancellors

Tamil Nadu assembly passed a resolution on Thursday against the University Grants Commission (UGC) draft that allegedly gave more powers to the governor to select a vice chancellors amid the on-going tussle with governor RN Ravi on the issue.

All parties except the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supported the resolution moved by chief minister M K Stalin. (ANI)

At least five state-run universities in Tamil Nadu are without a vice chancellor (V-C) due to this standoff between the governor RN Ravi and the state government. All parties except the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supported the resolution moved by chief minister M K Stalin.

On Monday, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan had released the draft regulation for faculty recruitment, promotions in higher education institutions, opening V-C positions to non-academics.

The resolution, passed on Thursday, urged the Union ministry of education to immediately withdraw the draft regulations released by the UGC. “The House believes that the recent regulations issued by the UGC on appointment of vice-chancellors of universities should be withdrawn,” the resolution read.

“Since the regulations are against the future of the youth of Tamil Nadu, the assembly unanimously demands that the regulations be withdrawn…We do not accept it. It is not right to give more powers to the governors to appoint V-Cs arbitrarily,” it said.

Stalin accused the BJP-led Union government of bellitling the powers of state governments in education and said: “The new rules will affect Tamil Nadu’s education system that has been structured on the basis of social justice.”

Tamil Nadu’s main opposition AIADMK which has been critiquing the DMK throughout the assembly session that began on January 7, also supported the DMK on the issue and opposed the UGC’s draft regulations. Though BJP’s floor leader Nainar Nagendran led a walkout, the national party’s regional ally Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) backed the ruling DMK’s resolution.

“The state government still has time to register its objections to the draft regulations,” Nagendran said.

There is a tug of war between governor Ravi and the DMK government on the matter of including a UGC nominee in the search committees to finalise a vice-chancellor. Besides Anna University, there are no V-Cs in the University of Madras, Bharathiar University, Madurai Kamaraj University and Tamil Nadu Teacher Education University.

“We didn’t accept the governor’s suggestions. It is neither right nor the convention,” Stalin said. In 2022, the Tamil Nadu assembly had passed a bill that sought to clip the powers of the governor in appointing VCs.

On Tuesday, Stalin posted on X that Tamil Nadu will fight this issue legally and politically. He described it as an authoritarian move by the BJP-led central government and accused them of centralising power and undermining democratically elected state governments.

Though the universities are funded by the state government, the governor, as the chancellor, gets to appoint the VCs. The issue escalated in December 2024 when Ravi asked the state government to recall its notification dated December 9 over a search committee constituted for the post of vice chancellor for Annamalai University as it did not include a nominee from UGC and it violates directions of the Supreme Court. In response, Tamil Nadu’s higher education minister Govi Chezhian said they have followed rules per the concerned laws of the state universities.

The governor’s search Ccommittee comprises nominees of – chancellor, Tamil Nadu government, syndicate of the university and the UGC chairman. The governor had directed the state government to notify the constitution of the search committee of Annamalai University on October 25 last year, consisting of above four members, with the chancellor’s nominee as the convener of the committee.

The higher education department in a government order on December 9 in 2024 notified the committee. “The said notification issued by the Government is in difference to the Search Committee constituted and is void ab initio; being contrary to the existing UGC regulations and prevailing orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” the Raj Bhavan said at the time.

The state government replied that it is the governor who has arbitrarily appointed a fourth nominee to the search committee. “Every university operates by its specific set of bylaws,” the higher education minister said in a statement at the time. “The UGC will communicate to us directly if there is anything to be communicated. It is not appropriate for the governor-chancellor to block actions taken by the state government.”