Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Bill to regulate private varsities in State soon: SCHE chief

By Aniket Alam

HYDERABAD June 27. The Andhra Pradesh Government is seriously considering enacting a law to regulate private universities in the State. As the first step in this direction, the State Council for Higher Education has been asked to prepare proposals on the subject, C. Subba Rao, Chairman of the Council, said.

Prof. Subba Rao told The Hindu that the draft proposal is ready and would be made public in a fortnight for initiating a public debate on the issue. Only after receiving inputs from the relevant stakeholders and the general public would the Government think of introducing any bill in the Assembly, he said.

Legislating on private universities has assumed a certain urgency with other State Governments stealing a march over the Andhra Pradesh Government on the issue. Chattisgarh has become the first State in the country to pass a law recognising and regulating private universities. Orissa plans to introduce a similar bill in the coming monsoon session of its Assembly.

Sources in private educational institutions have said that Uttaranchal has already prepared a Cabinet note on the matter and West Bengal and Punjab have shown keen interest to make laws to enable private universities. Madhya Pradesh too has been working on this issue, but the final decision has been postponed till after the State's Assembly elections later this year.

This has led to a situation where universities are registering in Chattisgarh but are operational in Andhra Pradesh too, raising questions of jurisdiction. Two examples of this trend are the Hyderabad-based ICFAI University and the Raipur-based Rai University.

Prof. Subba Rao says that the proposed bill will be model legislation for enabling private universities to function and expand in the State and would address the "eccentricities and anomalies'' which have crept up at present. There would be a strong component of checks and balances incorporated in the proposal, he added.

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