By Joseph Maliakan
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan ( VBSA) ,Bill 2025 to replace the University Grants Commission ( UGC ) , All India Council for Technical Education, ( AICTE ) and the National Council for Teacher Education , ( NCTE ) will centralise higher education in the country overriding federal structure and adversally affecting the rights of the states and doing away with whatever autonomy our higher educational institutions enjoys.
The Bill repeals the three Acts providing for the constitution of these bodies. However , the Bill exempts legal and medical education from its purview .These will continue to be regulated under separate Acts.
The Bill is to establish the VBSA ( Commission ) as the apex regulatory body for higher education. The Commission will have the following three Councils : (i) Regulatory Council which will function as the common regulator for higher education , ( ii ) Accreditation Council to oversee the system of accreditation , and ( iii ) Standards Council to determine academic standards. The functions of the Councils include : providing strategic direction for higher education and research , developing a roadmap for transforming higher educational institutions and suggesting schemes for improving quality ofeducation.
Currently, the UGC also allocates Grants to universities and colleges. Under the Bill , the Commission or its Councils will not have any powers regarding funding to Higher Education Institutions.
So far so good. But what is most objectional about the Bill is it tramples on the states’ powers. Education according to the Indian Constitution is a State subject. Considering the diversity in our country, language, culture , climate , natural resources , food and dress habits it was very appropriate that the states were given freedom to design and impement educational programmes suited to their particular States or region.
On Thursday , 19 March 2026 the main opposition party in the Parliament ,the Congress in a statement said that the proposed regulatory framework of higher education in the country represents constitutional overeach by the Union Government . The Bill was introduced without consulting the states , bureaucratises higher education and hands over financial powers to the Education Ministry controlled by bureaucrats and politicians , Jairam Ramesh , Communications Chief of the Congress said in his statement on the Bill.
” The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education’s annual demand for Grants report on the Department of Higher Education presented on Wednesday revealed a shockingly High number of vacancies in key regulatory agencies like the UGC, and AICTE.”
Ramesh said the proposed Bill , as stated in its Objects and Reasons , is introduced for passing in Parliament under entry 66 of the Union list in the Seventh schedule of the Constitution which gives specific legislative powers to Parliament that is only for “Coordination and determinationof standards in institutionsfor higher education or research and scientific and Technical institutions .”
The VBSA Bill gives the Commission powers far beyond the scope prescribed in the constitution and specifically encroaches on the powers of the states, he added.
” Entry 44 of List I -Union List expressly prohibits the Parliament from law making on matters of incorporation , regulation and winding up of universities, and List II – State List expressly gives this law making power to State Legislatures. The Bill is therefore violative of the federal structure of the Constitution “, the statement pointed out.
The current bill the staement added envisions only three Councils, with the exception of a council for grant giving. Consequently , grant giving powers will be taken away from autonomous bodies like the UGC and AICTE governed by acdemics to the Minstry run by the bureaucrats and politicians . This centralisation of financial powers is a departure from the current practice and a violation of norms set by the National Education Policy ( N E P ). Ramesh poited out.
The Bill was referred to a parliamentary standing Committee headed by Bharaiya Janata Party M.P. Dagubati Purandeswari following its introduction in the Lok Sabha on 15 December 2025.As of March 2026 the committee is conducting hearings focssing on the funding mechanisms and the role of the states in higher education.
Concerns have been raised about potential threats to the autonomy of the Institutes of national importance like the Indian Institute of Technologies ( IITs ) and the Indian Institute of Managements ( IIMs ) due to clause 49 in the Bill which gives proposed new Commission overriding authority to regulate accreditation and standards.
Perhaps the most controversial issue that concerns academics is the issue of funding universities and colleges. While funding has been taken out of the purview of the new Commission the union government has not provided any information as to how funds will be utilised and what mechanism will be adoped to distribute funds . Funding it is proposed will now be handed over to the education ministry which will be under the total control of bureaucrats and politicians . Such an arrangement it is feared will go against the interests of opposition ruled states as is happening in other areas like employment guarantee schemes .
Lastly, the Commission and the Councils are according to the bill will be dominated by bureaucrats and administrators instead of acdemics who were hitherto in charge of Higher Education bodies like the UGC and the AICTE. Representation of States in the Commission and the Councils are also very minimal according to the Bill which further will lead to centralisation of Higher education.
