Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan bill drops fee control, grant powers for regulator

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, proposes a single regulatory framework for higher education but does not grant the new regulator powers to disburse grants or regulate fees, even as it significantly expands penalty provisions for violations.

Likely to be introduced in Parliament during the ongoing session, the Bill seeks to establish an umbrella body with three councils responsible for regulation, academic standards, and accreditation.

While the proposed Regulatory Council is tasked with framing policies to “prevent commercialization of higher education,” it is not empowered to control fee structures or funding.

While limiting its role in funding, the Bill allows the Regulatory Council to impose financial penalties on higher education institutions found violating provisions of the law.

Penalties range from not less than ₹10 lakh to a maximum of ₹2 crore, with the highest fine applicable in cases where institutions are set up without approval from the central or state government.

Under the proposed framework, the new regulatory architecture will absorb the functions of the University Grants Commission, the All India Council for Technical Education, and the National Council for Teacher Education.

The Bill provides for the repeal of the UGC Act, 1956, the AICTE Act, 1987, and the NCTE Act, and the dissolution of all three bodies.

By contrast, the UGC Act allowed the commission to levy fines of up to only ₹1,000 and authorized it to disburse grants to universities, while also empowering it through regulations to specify fee-related matters.

The AICTE Act similarly enabled the council to release grants to technical institutions and issue norms and guidelines on fees.

The 2025 Bill makes no reference to fee regulation powers. On funding, the notes on clauses state, “It is proposed to keep the funding to the centrally funded higher educational institutes out of the purview of the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan. The National Education Policy, 2020, also envisions that the function of funding should be segregated from the councils performing the functions of academic standard setting, regulation, and accreditation.”

“Thus, to ensure that the Standards Council, Regulatory Council, and the Accreditation Council fully discharge their specific domain functions, the function of disbursal of grants to the centrally funded higher educational institutions shall be accordingly ensured through mechanisms devised by the Ministry of Education,” it added.

The Bill aligns with the National Education Policy 2020, which calls for a single higher education regulator.

It proposes setting up the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan as a commission to guide the growth of higher education and coordinate the work of three councils: the Regulatory Council, the Standards Council, and the Accreditation Council.

The commission will be headed by a chairperson described as a person of eminence, appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of the central government.

It will have up to 12 members, including the presidents of the three councils, the Higher Education Secretary, two professors from state higher education institutions, and five experts.

Its functions include preparing roadmaps to transform institutions into large multidisciplinary and research-focused universities, integrating Bharatiya knowledge, languages, and arts into higher education, and proposing education-related schemes.

Each of the three councils will be led by a president with at least 10 years of experience as a professor, appointed by the President on the recommendation of a search-cum-selection committee comprising two experts nominated by the center and the higher education secretary. Each council may have up to 14 members.

The Regulatory Council and Standards Council will include two senior academicians, one academician from a state higher education institution, and one nominee from states or union territories on a rotational basis for one year.

The Accreditation Council will include two academicians from state institutions and three from institutions of national importance.

Unlike an earlier 2018 draft Bill proposing a Higher Education Commission of India with an advisory council involving state higher education councils, the current Bill makes no reference to state higher education councils.

As the common regulator, the Regulatory Council will be tasked with ensuring institutions achieve full accreditation and graded autonomy, mandating online public disclosure of finances, courses, and institutional details, enforcing minimum standards for establishment and operation, facilitating autonomy, setting norms for select foreign universities to operate in India, authorizing degree-granting powers, and withdrawing such authorization in case of violations.

“The Regulatory Council shall take measures to facilitate colleges to attain required accreditation benchmarks and eventually become autonomous degree-granting colleges,” the Bill states.

The Accreditation Council will oversee an institutional accreditation system and develop an Institutional Accreditation Framework, using disclosures made on the Regulatory Council’s website as part of the assessment process.

The Standards Council will define learning outcomes, qualification frameworks, academic benchmarks, institutional standards, and staff qualifications.

The Bill gives the Center the final say in disputes over whether a matter constitutes policy and allows the central government, with presidential approval, to supersede the commission or councils for up to six months.

Existing standards and regulations framed by the UGC, AICTE, and NCTE will continue until replaced. Office-bearers of the dissolved bodies will vacate their posts and may claim compensation, while employees will be deemed absorbed into the new commission or councils.

The statement of objects and reasons cites over-regulation and duplication caused by multiple statutory bodies, arguing for a simplified, technology-driven single-window system based on public self-disclosure.

“The present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonized regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.

The entire system of regulation will be executed through a technology-driven single-window interactive system for higher educational institutions based upon public self-disclosure,” it states.

The Bill will not apply to medical, legal, pharmaceutical, dental, or veterinary education. It proposes representation from the Council of Architecture in the new councils, without assigning it any regulatory authority.