Maharashtra state cabinet approves model guidelines for opening private varsities.

Updated on: Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Clearing the decks for private institutions to enter the field of higher education in Maharashtra, the state cabinet on Tuesday approved model guidelines for opening private varsities.

Following the approval, the government will now shelve the Private Universities Bill in August.

The bill got mired in controversy over caste reservations. Reservation of a fixed percentage of seats of socially backward class students was not stipulated in the Act.

This led to opposition from leaders and representatives of backward classes, after which the state cabinet proposed 25% reservation in the Act and forwarded it to Governor K Sankaranarayanan for assent. But the bill was rejected by the governor on the reservation issue.

Keen not to lose more time over the move, the government decided to imbibe a model adopted in some other states by framing guidelines. Sources said separate bills will now be drafted for each such private university, which will have to submit a proposal on the basis of the model guidelines.

The new guidelines stipulate 50% reservation for backward classes. The new guidelines allow a private organization to set up the university on a no-profit, no-loss basis, along with any trust or society. Officials said top corporates were interested in setting up the universities. Infrastructure requirements needed to set up universities in a district and rural centre were also relaxed. While the Act had stipulated that a minimum requirement of 50 acres and 100 acres to set up universities in district and rural areas, these have been relaxed to 25 acres and 50 acres respectively.

Maharashtra state cabinet approves model guidelines for opening private varsities.

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