Unease over revised draft of NCHER Bill

Updated on: Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Even as the final sitting of the task force that drafted the Bill on the proposed National Commission for Higher Education and Research is scheduled at New Delhi on June 9, the dissatisfaction in the academic community regarding certain key provisions of the draft bill refuses to ebb away.

At a consultation held at the national capital in the last week of May, the Vice Chairmen of State Higher Education Councils, among others, were given a revised draft of the NCHER Bill. At least two of them — the one from Kerala and the other from West Bengal — are reported to have expressed their disagreements with the revised draft which they tended to see as old wine in a not-so-new bottle.

Many provisions of the Bill had come in for sharp criticism at sittings of the task force held country-wide (refer The Hindu-EducationPlus dated February 16 and April 19, 2010). Many academics and politicians, including Education Minister M. A. Baby had expressed concerns over possibly incursions by the NCHER into rights traditionally held by States. The idea and structure of the ‘Collegium of Scholars' has been retained more or less intact in the revised draft. As the task force would have it, one of the main functions of the collegium is to recommend a panel of names to a selection committee headed by the Prime Minister for the appointment of the chairman and members of the NCHER. The collegium, for all practical purposes, would precede the commission. Initially there was to have been core fellows and co-opted fellows in the collegium. The core fellows had tenure for life.

In the face stiff opposition the task force has now recommended that the 30-member collegium have ‘first fellows'— national research professors, Nobel prize winners or those who have won Fields Medal — and other fellows. The first fellows will have tenure for life and the others will serve the collegium for 10 years.

Here too the catch is that for someone other than the first fellows to make it to the collegium he or she would have to be recommended by a fellow. Of course they have to be persons of integrity and eminence in higher education.

Even in the revised draft the collegium retains its duties of recommending names of those who would be included in a committee to be set by the President once every five years to review the functioning of the NCHER itself and of creating and maintaining a ‘directory of academics' who are eligible to assume “leadership positions” (read vice chancellors) in institutions of higher learning.

If the collegium was the sole advisory body to the NCHER in the original draft, the revised version speaks of a General Council to the Commission; an omnibus body which, among others, has as its members all members of the commission; all vice chairmen of State Higher Education Councils; the heads of professional bodies including the Bar Council of India, the Central Council of Homeopathy, the Dental Council of India, the Institution of Engineers and the Medical Council of India; heads of research councils in the country; one Vice Chancellor of a central university, one director of an IIT; one director of an IIM and the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, among others. The members of the general council shall serve for two years.

The Vice-Chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council K. N. Panikkar pointed out to The Hindu-EducationPlus that two bodies would now be performing tasks that a single body could have done easily.

“There is really no need for a General Council and a collegium,” he added.

Corporation for funds

The revised draft mandates that the NCHER sets up a ‘Higher Education Financial Services Corporation' complete with a director board to disburse “grants to higher educational institutions; and perform such other functions incidental and related to such disbursal of grants.”

The director board of the corporation shall comprise,

The Chairperson or such Member of the Commission, as the Commission may nominate, who shall be the non-executive Chairperson of the Corporation and shall preside over its meetings.

two persons, by rotation, from amongst such members of the General Council nominated to it under clause (iii) of sub-section (1) of section 17.

one person, by rotation, from amongst such Members of the General Council nominated to it under clause (iv) of sub-section (1) of section 17.

one person, by rotation, from amongst such Members of the General Council nominated to it under clause (v) of sub-section (1) of section 17.

one person, by rotation, from amongst such Members of the General Council nominated to it to represent Central Educational Institutions under clause (vi) to clause (x) of sub-section (1) of section 17.

two nominees of the Central Government, of whom one shall be nominated by the Ministry dealing with the subject of finance.

two persons being experts in matters of finance, banking and management to be appointed who shall be whole-time officers of the Corporation

a Managing Director who shall be a whole-time officer of the Corporation.

Chapter VI of the revised draft provides that each institution intending to award degrees or diplomas or any university wishing to commence academic operations should communicate such intention to the commission and get the latter's approval. This provision was widely criticised as one that eats into a State's educational rights. For its part the NCHER will, within 120 days of the receipt of such intention, declare by notification that the institution concerned may commence academic operations.

Unease over revised draft of NCHER Bill

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