Haryana assembly passes bill allowing govt to appoint administrator in private universities

NEW DELHI: The Haryana Assembly on Monday passed the Haryana Private Universities (Amendment) Bill, which provides for measures that include dissolution of the management body of the university and taking over its functioning through the appointment of administrator under certain circumstances including the matters related to national security.

According to the provisions of the bill, the government can exercise special powers "in certain circumstances". The bill was brought by the BJP government close on the heels after a "white collar" terror module was busted by the Jammu and Kashmir Police along with their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. It had led the investigators to Faridabad's Al Falah University as some of its faculty were linked to the blast near Delhi's Red Fort last month.

As per the provisions of the Bill, the "certain circumstances" include if any private university is involved in "any grave lapse, including the matters relating to national security, sovereignty and integrity of India, public security, law and order, use or misuse of university premises for unlawful or anti-national activities--including but not limited to acts affecting sovereignty and integrity of India--or any other serious act prejudicial to public interest has occurred".

Dissolution procedure for private universities introduced

With provisions applicable to all private universities, these "certain circumstances" also include if the university is involved in financial mismanagement, maladministration, academic compromise , regulatory violations or governance failures; or any act, omission, lapse, irregularity, misconduct or abuse of authority has been committed which seriously affects the functioning, integrity or standards of the university. Higher Education Minister Mahipal Dhanda had introduced the Bill in the state Assembly on Friday and it was taken up for discussion and passage in the Assembly on Monday.

As per the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, after going through the various sections of the Haryana Private Universities Act, 2006 as amended from time to time, it was found that various Sections of the Act needs to be amended to streamline the procedure including Section 44 and 44A. "In Section 44 and 44 A, no procedure has been prescribed for dissolution of the University and appointment of Administrator in the University. Accordingly, it needs to be modified and new Section 44 B needs to be inserted to streamline the procedure for dissolution of the University and appointment of Administrator in the University by way of amendment...," it says.

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Private universities face penalties for mismanagement

Taking part in the discussion on the Bill before it was passed by the House, Congress members including Raghuvir Singh Kadian and B B Batra said the government should spell out the criteria on who can be appointed as an administrator under "certain circumstances". Meanwhile, the Bill states that various penalties may be imposed upon the university for maladministration, misinformation and for not maintaining standards, namely: "stopping of admissions in one or more faculties; minimum financial penalty of ten lakhs rupees and maximum of one crore rupees; dissolution of the university in a phased manner".

The government shall dissolve the authorities of the university and appoint an Administrator to supervise, manage and regulate the affairs of the university during such phased dissolution, as per the Bill's provisions. The Administrator shall have all the powers and shall be subject to all the duties of the Governing Body and the Board of Management under the Act. Upon appointment of Administrator, all the assets and properties of the university shall vest in the Administrator from the date of his appointment and he shall exercise full control and management over the same, as per the Bill.