Amidst stiff opposition, House passes another pvt varsity bill

Tuesday, 22/09/2015

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Chandigarh : The Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Monday passed with majority vote the RIMT University Bill, 2015, to allow the establishment of another self-financed private university to “supplement the efforts of the state universities.” This was done despite a stiff opposition to the bill by not only the Opposition legislators but also several members of the treasury benches on the second day of the ongoing Monsoon session, here.

However, allaying the apprehensions raised over the bill, the Higher Education Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra said the object of the RIMT University is to impart comprehensive education at all levels to achieve excellence and to promote research and teaching in areas of education, engineering and technology, languages, laws, life sciences and other courses under the general heads of the Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences.

“As the establishment of such private self-financed universities requires a broadly uniform set of guidelines for ensuring academic standards, prevention of commercialization and mismanagement, it deemed, therefore, expedient to provide for promulgation of this bill,” Rakhra argued while moving the bill for consideration and passage of the House. Initiating the discussion on the bill, Congress MLA Ashwani Sekhri raised objection to granting the approval of running medical streams as well in this private university. “Private universities are mushrooming in the state…poor Punjab domicile students should be given 25 to 30 per cent seats and free education in such varsities,” he demanded.

Another Opposition legislator Balbir Sidhu said the private varsities are turning commercial establishments and in his Kharar area itself, four to five private universities have come up. Joining the issue, BJP MLA Manoranjan Kalia said there were no checks and

balances in regulating such private institutions. He stressed for a Regulatory Commission to regulate such institutions.

SAD MLA Iqbal Singh Jhundan said the state government should ensure that private universities should not become a business and the interests of the students should be safeguarded at all costs. Coming down heavily against the bill, first-time BJP MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Som Parkash said this will take the total number of universities in the state to 25. Urging the government to desist from playing any “hidden agenda” behind such moves, Parkash said the provisions contained in the bill were “contradictory” and the draft in English and Punjabi “varied”.

Stressing the need for maintaining the standard of education in private universities, the saffron legislator went to the extent of alleging that “the draft prepared by the private university was copied in verbatim

in the bill”. “Every time when such bills come, we oppose them and seek certain amendments but to no avail,” he rued. Another BJP MLA and CPS Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu questioned that if the private sector is “favoured” in every field that from where the revenue would come to the state exchequer. She referred to the controversy of a private medical college, which without being affiliated admitted hundreds of students, whose future was doomed after perusing education from there.

Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar talking to media persons in Vidhan Sabha Press Gallery on Monday.