Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday that the proposed UGC Regulations, 2025, was a "secret project" that was being sneaked in to usurp the powers of state governments in the higher education sector entirely.

"The new regulations that vests with the chancellor the power to even constitute the search committee for the selection of vice-chancellors flies against federal principles and violates Constitutional norms," the Chief Minister. "What this lays to waste is the constitutional principle that the Governor should function on the basis of the advice of the council of ministers," he said.

The composition of the search committee for the selection of VCs was one of the reasons for the deep and unresolved government-governor rift when Arif Mohammed Khan was governor. In the Universities Act, which is still in force, the search-cum-selection committee had a nominee of the Governor/Chancellor, a person elected by the University Senate and a member of the chairman of the University Grants Commission.

The governor/chancellor's nominee was traditionally provided by the government and so the government always had the final say in the choice of the VC; except for the UGC nominee, the other two went by the government's wishes.

But Governor Khan disrupted the practice by insisting on his own nominee. This shifted the balance in favour of the governor, and by extension the Centre, in the search committee; The governor's and UGC's nominees together outnumbered the lone government nominee in the form of the senate member.

To overcome this political hindrance, the Kerala government passed the University Laws (Amendment) Bill in the Assembly on September 1, 2022. It changed the number and composition of the search-cum-selection committee. Instead of three, the amendment expanded the committee to five. In addition to the existing three, it added two more government nominees. This gave the state government a 3-2 advantage.

As expected, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan did not give his assent to the bill and forwarded it to President Droupadi Murmu for her consent. It is still awaiting presidential assent.

The proposed UGC Regulations - Draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025 - has now recommended the same three-member search-cum-selection committee that existed before the Pinarayi government brought in the amendment: nominee of the Visitor/Chancellor, nominee of the Chairman, University Grants Commission, and a nominee of the apex body of the university such as Syndicate/Senate/Executive Council / Board of Management/ Equivalent Body of the University. 

"This move to appoint VCs of the Centre's choice also mocks at the concurrent list in the Constitution," he said. He said the proposed regulations offer a shortcut to appoint even those without academic experience as VCs. "This allows Sangh Parivar lackeys to occupy the highest administrative positions in universities," the CM added.

The CM was referring to Section 10 in the Draft Regulations. It says that anyone occupying a senior level in reputed research or academic administrative organisations or at a senior level in industry, public administration, public policy, and/or public sector undertakings can be appointed Vice-Chancellor. The CM said that this infringement of the rights of states was unacceptable.