Following SC rap, Governor approves Bill to recognize Tamil Nadu private universities

The Tamil Nadu government has issued a notification for the Tamil Nadu Private Universities (Amendment) Act of 2024, thus bringing eight private universities in line with how a university is recognized under Section 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act.

The notification was issued after Governor R N Ravi had given assent to the Bill, a day after the Supreme Court, in its April 8 judgment, admonished him for keeping bills pending and gave "deemed assent" to 10 other bills.

The eight institutions covered in the amendment are Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan (Tiruchy), Sree Anusuya (Villupuram), Sri Venkateswaraa (Thoothukudi), NMV (Virudhunagar), Takshashila (Villupuram), Joy (Tirunelveli), Jeppiaar (Chennai) and St Joseph (Villupuram).

A Bill to modify the original Tamil Nadu Private Universities (TNPU) Act, 2019, was originally passed by the Assembly in October 2023 for harmonizing seven private universities with the UGC Act but failed to obtain the governor's assent.

In December 2024, the Assembly had approved a new amendment to the TNPU Act to align eight universities with the UGC Act, including one that had been established in March 2024. This too was pending with the governor until the SC ruling.

Although for the same purpose, the 2024 Bill was different from the 2023 Bill because it further refined the TNPU Act in specifying how a new private university can be recognized under the Act solely by way of an act of legislature.

Recognition required to receive UGC grants

Section 2 (f) of the UGC Act provides that the creation of a university, whether private or state-owned, must be an act of legislature. The TNPU Act had, however, permitted a fresh private university to be recognized simply by a notification to make a mention about it in the list of universities contained in the Act.

The UGC had protested against this and the website of the commission does not provide all these private universities under the heading of State Private Universities recognized under Section 2 (f).

This acknowledgment is required not only to make sure the students of these institutions will not have any problems in the future, but also to enable the institutions to get grants from the UGC. The Act notified by the state made it clear that such institutions will be treated as existing because they were recognised by means of independent notifications.