The Unauthorised Institutions Bill and the Private Universities Bill,which have been lying in cold storage for some time now,are most likely to be introduced in the state this year. The Bills will be tabled before the Cabinet this month. The Unauthorised Institutions Bill is an attempt to restrict the ad-hoc mushrooming of illegal/unauthorised institutions. Similarly,the Self-Financed Universities Bill (Establishment and Regulation) will keep a quality check on the kind of institutions that are proposed by private players or self-financing institutions, Higher and Technical Education Minister Rajesh Tope said. Any institution or university,which is not recognised or registered under any competent authority like the University Grants Commission (UGC) or the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE),or those which are not affiliated to any university in Maharashtra,will come under the scanner. There have been instances when institutes run courses without permission. Further,there have been cases when institutes advertise a particular course as a full-time course,but in reality it turns out to be a part-time programme. Such actions amount to cheating students and will attract strict punishment, said Tope. The Unauthorised Institutions Bill empowers the joint director to take action against faulty institutes. He/she will be appointed as the competent authority and will be in a position to conduct an inquiry,take hearings as well as penalise and prosecute. Punishment could amount to a fine of upto Rs 1 lakh and imprisonment upto three months. The amount of fine and duration of imprisonment could be increased if the party/individual is found cheating for a second time. Meanwhile,the Private Universities Bill stipulates that the promoter of an institution has to keep aside an endowment of Rs 5-10 crore as corpus fund,to be used for the development of an institute. The endowment amount will,however,depend on the number of programmes run by the institute. The Bill recommends different land areas depending on the location of the institute. It will vary depending on whether the proposed institute will be located in a metro or a completely rural area or a small town, said Tope. Further,as far as reserving seats are concerned,the bill on private universities recommends that affirmative action must be taken. The institute can be taken a decision on the number of seats that should be reserved based on two criterioncaste and economic condition of the student. However,the state may have the authority to take decisions on such matters, said an official of the higher and technical education department.
