Draft UGC regulations infringe upon powers of states: Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday that the Centre's draft UGC Regulations affect states' legislative powers in higher education, undermining the country's federal foundations of the country.

"It is in this context that this national convention assumes significance. The onus lies on us in attempting to redefine the role and function of the UGC vis-a-vis its regulatory power and re-affirming the role of states that establish and maintain state universities," Vijayan as he inaugurated a convention of top leaders from south India, barring Andhra Pradesh.

Ministers from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana, besides officials from Jharkhand, were also present at the convention, IANS reported.

"As soon as the Draft UGC Regulations, 2025, became public, the anti-federal and anti-democratic content, which would have ruinous effects on the entire country’s higher education sector, was evident. Therefore, the Kerala Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging the Union government to withdraw them. We also called upon the Union government to engage in detailed discussions with all stakeholders, taking their opinions seriously, before issuing new guidelines," Vijayan said.

"The primary issue with the draft Regulations is that they do not envisage any role for the state governments in the appointment of the Vice Chancellors of public universities established under state acts and thus, impinge on the legitimate rights of the states in a federal set up. In the selection process of Vice Chancellors, all powers are sought to be vested in the Chancellor by taking away the function of constituting the search-cum-selection committee from the Higher Education departments. If the Chancellor can appoint anyone from a panel, undoubtedly, the appointment will be at the behest of the political powers that have appointed the Governor, as in almost all state universities, Governors are Chancellors. In that sense, the draft Regulations are against the basic federal principles enshrined in the Constitution,” said Vijayan.

Also present on the occasion was Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V.D.Satheesan who said that given the importance of higher education, it is critical to have it free of political intrusion from both the Union and state governments.

"The draft regulations also open the possibility for individuals from bureaucratic or industrial backgrounds to be appointed as VCs, which creates serious apprehension of the saffronisation of higher education," Satheesan said.

The convention decided to hold its next meeting on this topic at Hyderabad.