VBSA Bill: Panel flags excessive central control; recommends safeguards for HEIs, timely filling of vacancies

A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) has observed that the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, may lead to the concentration of extensive regulatory powers in a single central regulator, which might compromise institutional autonomy. Additionally, the draft report shared with the panel members notes that the VBSA Bill's proposed graded penalty structure cannot be imposed arbitrarily.

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA) Bill, 2025 , which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December last year, proposes an overhaul of India's higher-education sector by dissolving the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) to create a single regulatory commission.

The new bill is a revision of the previous draft known as the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill . The VBSA bill was later referred to a joint committee of Parliament.

Autonomy of institutes, graded penalty

The government listed the VBSA bill for consideration and passage after the report is adopted.

The committee has expressed that too much power given to a single central regulator could lead to "bureaucratic or ideological overreach", thereby affecting the institutional autonomy currently available under the existing UGC framework.

Further, it highlighted that the bill proposed a graded penalty structure but noted that penalties cannot be imposed arbitrarily by the Regulatory Council.

"Penalties are linked to proven violations of norms. The main purpose of having a penalty system is to strengthen deterrence against institutions which habitually and repeatedly violate the norms. The Committee observes that, on the aspect of Individual and Institutional Accountability, the provisions of the Bill remove the 'corporate veil' often used by promoters of fraudulent institutions."

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VBSA Bill: Rules to fill vacancies

According to the Press Trust of India (PTI) report, the joint committee also asked the ministry to frame appropriate rules to ensure that the vacancies, such as those arising from retirement or superannuation, are filled on time. The process should start at least six months in advance and be completed within 90 days of the occurrence of the vacancy.

"Furthermore, even for legitimate HEIs, Repeat Contraventions now carry the risk of the removal of specific personnel found responsible for the violation, shifting the burden of compliance onto individual leaders and trustees," it said.

The committee approved that the council's presidents and full-time members be appointed by the President of India, based on the recommendation of the search-cum-selection committee.

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HEIs suffer delay in appointments

Additionally, the report said that in case of other members of commission and councils, excluding ex-officio members and member secretary of the commission, the Central government should itself appoint them, instead of the President of India.

This is because many central institutions currently face delays due to the long time taken to appoint members.

As per media reports, the draft report of the JPC is to be adopted on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament.

VBSA bill 2025 has received several disagreements from the opposition, teachers, and students' organisations across the country. Several IITs and IIMs also opposed various clauses of the bill, including Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Madras and Kanpur.

The bill aims to implement the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 by dividing higher education oversight into three specialised councils for regulation, accreditation and standards. With inputs from PTI