Ritu Sharma | 13 July 2023 | The Indian Express

The Gujarat government is all set to introduce a Common Universities Act to tighten its control over its public varsities.

The draft of the Common Universities Bill has already been deliberated over by the state government and approved by the education ministry. It is most likely to be tabled in the upcoming monsoon session of the Assembly.

Confirming the same, Education Principal Secretary Mukesh Kumar told The Indian Express, “Though the National Education Policy 2020 has triggered the Common Universities Act, the individual university acts have already consumed its utility and the need was felt for a long time. Already, the board of governors concept has been working at some of the public universities for the past six-seven years.”

The Common Universities Act will do away with all the political elected bodies such as the senate and the syndicate. These will be replaced by the board of governors. The state government has also kept a provision in the draft that gives it the authority to “appoint their officers as registrar, finance and accounts officer or controller of examinations on deputation if the university officials fail to perform their duties”.

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