Gujarat assembly passes bill to stop affiliation of grant-in-aid colleges with pvt varsities

Thus, we have decided to restore the original Act through this amendment bill, said Vaghani.Since the Congress was also against the affiliation of such colleges with private universities, it supported the amendment Bill.

A bill introduced by the Gujarat government to stop grant-in-aid colleges from getting affiliated to private universities was passed in the state assembly with support from the opposition Congress on Monday.

The ''Gujarat Private Universities (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021'' was passed unanimously on the first day of the two-day monsoon session of the assembly as Congress MLAs also supported the BJP government's move to stop grant-in-aid colleges from getting affiliated to private universities.

Earlier this year, the government had amended the Gujarat Private Universities Act, 2009 to allow grant-in-aid colleges to be affiliated to private universities of Gujarat. Before that amendment, such colleges were barred from getting linked with private varsities in the state as per the Act.

However, the state government decided to reconsider the decision after it received several representations from different quarters against this move, said Gujarat Education Minister Jitubhai Vaghani while tabling the bill.

It was necessary to ''resolve administrative exigencies'' pointed out by stakeholders in their representations, he said.

''Professors, student unions and other stakeholders had urged us to restore the original Act because they felt that the previous amendment raised several issues related to staff, recruitment, fees and other administrative issues. Thus, we have decided to restore the original Act through this amendment bill,'' said Vaghani.

Since the Congress was also against the affiliation of such colleges with private universities, it supported the amendment Bill. PTI PJT RSY RSY