NCHER Draft legislation ready

Updated on: Thursday, May 13, 2010

New Delhi: A task force on a crucial bill for setting up of an overarching body to regulate higher education today finalised the draft legislation after two-month long
consultations with various stakeholders.

The draft bill on National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) will be brought before the Central Advisory Board of Education, an advisory panel having state
education ministers as its members, next month. The task force held its last meeting to finalise the draft bill today. It has been holding consultations with academicians and state government officials for the last two months. The major concerns raised by different quarters, including state government officials, have been taken care of in the re-drafted bill, official sources said.

The panel today discussed possibility of including health education under the ambit of NCHER. The members felt that further discussions should be held on the matter between the ministries of HRD and Health. The matter will come for discussion at CABE meeting on June 18 and 19. The panel also discussed including the law education under the purview of NCHER. The Bar Council of India has already opposed inclusion of legal education under the ambit of NCHER.

Both legal and medical education being specialised areas, there are divergent views in various quarters on whether these disciplines would be brought under NCHER. The HRD ministry feels that the proposed NCHER would not regulate the profession but would concentrate on setting standards for such education.

There were divergent views among members on whether the NCHER should enjoy the power of a civil court. The government wants to finalise the bill and introduce it in Parliament in the monsoon session.

NCHER Draft legislation ready

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