Himachal Pradesh House clears higher education bill

DHARAMSHALA: CPM MLA Rakesh Singha on Saturday cornered BJP over the issue of the proposed higher education law, which was later passed in the house as Himachal Pradesh State Higher Education Council (Establishment and Regulation) Bill, 2018. Singha pointed out various errors in the Bill, saying it was poorly drafted.
According to the MLA, statement of objectives was contradictory and did not seem to be intended at regulating institutions.
Instead, he said that the move would give them a free hand in making arbitrary decisions.
He was supported by Congress MLA and state party chief Sukhwinder Sukhu, who said the clause related to the meeting of the council needed to be revised and the time-limit for this should be every three months instead of six months.
Jagat Singh Negi of the Congress accused the government of trying to curb the autonomy of universities and controlling the flow of funds to institutions.
In his statement, education minister Suresh Bhardwaj said education has been included in the concurrent list and the state can come up with a legislation on the subject.
Under Centrally-sponsered Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), Bhardwaj said, funds are given to colleges directly and the Council will only provide a route. He said the Council already exists and the government is only giving it a statutory form.
“Earlier, the chief minister or education minister would be the Council chairman but now only an educationist or a person of eminence in public life will hold the post,” said Bhardwaj.