Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that the draft University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025, had been issued with the motive of doing away with the rights of States in higher education. Mr. Vijayan registered his strong protest over the move to install the Chancellor as the absolute authority in State-run universities.
The contents of the draft were designed to take forward the policies of commercialisation, communalisation and centralisation pursued by the Union government, he said. Giving the Chancellor full powers to form the search committee for the appointment of Vice-Chancellors was a violation of federal principles and the fundamental spirit of the Constitution.
Deciding the appointments in State-run universities, including that of the Vice-Chancellor, solely on the interests of the Union government contradicted the Concurrent List of the Constitution, he said. Diluting the qualification criteria for Vice-Chancellors was merely a short cut for appointing Sangh Parivar loyalists at the top of universities, Mr. Vijayan said.
Published – January 08, 2025 07:53 pm IST
