Bill seeking to make CBSE a statutory body to be table in Parliament

Updated on: Monday, July 23, 2012

A bill seeking to make CBSE a statutory body is expected to be tabled in Monsoon Session of Parliament even as HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has started meeting Opposition leaders over other pending legislations related to reforms in higher education.

The passage of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Bill will give the Board more administrative and financial autonomy and widen its functioning.
 
The statutory status will enable CBSE to take its own decisions through its board of governors. Besides, its orders will have stringent implications after it becomes a statutory body, officials said.
 
At present, CBSE is registered as a society, conducting board exams in its affiliated schools. It functions directly under the HRD Ministry and takes decision in consultation with the ministry on all important issues.
 
The move to introduce the Bill comes even as Sibal faces a big challenge for passage of over eight key legislations on higher education which are pending in Parliament.
 
Sources said he has already met senior BJP leaders like Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj as well as Arun Jaitley recently.
 
Some of the key bills including the Educational Tribunals Bill, the Higher Education and Research Bill, the Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, the Foreign Education Bill, the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority Bill are among those to be passed.

The crucial Educational Tribunals Bill, 2010 has been passed by Lok Sabha but is pending in the Upper House for almost a year now.
 
This Bill along with the Prohibition of Unfair Practices Bill and the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority Bill are inter-twined with each other, each giving strength to the other.
 
Sibal, who has expressed concern over delay in enactment of the Bills on several occasions, had met leaders of UPA allies besides the Opposition camp ahead of the Budget Session to evolve a consensus on these legislations.
 
MPs, including those from ruling Congress, have raised doubts over certain provisions of the key Bills which have led to their deferment.
 
The Budget Session, though, proved to be an eventful one for the HRD Ministry as about six Bills were passed. The Universities for Research and Innovation Bill, 2012 was introduced during the fag end of the Budget Session.

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