Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday strongly opposed the Draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025, released by Union Education Minister a day earlier.
Stalin was particularly critical of the proposal to vest control over Vice Chancellor appointments with the Governor-Chancellor and the provision to allow non-academics to the top job in universities.
“The new UGC regulations granting Governors broader control over VC appointments and allowing non-academics to hold these posts are a direct assault on federalism and state rights,” the Chief Minister said in a social media post.
An Authoritarian Move
He described it as an authoritarian move by the Union BJP government in a bid to centralise power and undermine democratically elected state governments. “Education must remain in the hands of those chosen by the people, not dictated by Governors acting at the BJP government’s behest,” he added.
According to him, Tamil Nadu, which leads the nation with the highest number of top-ranking HEIs, will not stay silent as our institutions are stripped of autonomy.
“Education is a subject under the Concurrent List in our Constitution, and hence we consider that the move of the UGC to issue this notification unilaterally as unconstitutional. This overreach is unacceptable, and Tamil Nadu will fight it legally and politically,” Stalin said.
