The Tamil Nadu government has notified the Tamil Nadu Private Universities (Amendment) Act of 2024, thereby bringing eight private universities in alignment with how a university is defined as per Section 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act.
The notification followed Governor RN Ravi granting assent to the Bill, one day after the Supreme Court (SC), in its ruling on April 8, reproached him for sitting on bills for long and granted “deemed assent” to ten other bills, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
The eight universities included in the amendment are:
- Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan (Tiruchy)
- Sree Anusuya (Villupuram)
- Sri Venkateswaraa (Thoothukudi)
- NMV (Virudhunagar)
- Takshashila (Villupuram)
- Joy (Tirunelveli)
- Jeppiaar (Chennai)
- St Joseph (Villupuram).
A Bill to amend the original Tamil Nadu Private Universities (TNPU) Act, 2019, was first passed by the Assembly in October 2023 to bring seven private universities in line with the UGC Act, but it did not receive the governor’s assent.
In December 2024, the Assembly passed a fresh amendment to the TNPU Act to bring eight universities in line with the UGC Act, including one that had come into existence in March 2024. However, this was also pending with the governor until the SC verdict.
Though intended for the same purpose, the 2024 Bill differed from the 2023 Bill as it further fine-tuned the TNPU Act in defining how a new private university can be recognised under the Act solely through an act of legislature.
Section 2 (f) of the UGC Act states that the establishment of an university, be it private or state-run, should be through an act of legislature. The TNPU Act had, however, allowed a new private university to be recognised merely through a notification to include it in the list of universities in the Act.
The UGC had objected to this and the commission’s website does not list all these private universities under the category of State Private Universities recognised under Section 2 (f). This recognition is necessary not only to ensure that the students in these institutions do not face any issues in the future, but also for the institutions to receive grants from the UGC.
The Act notified by the state clarified that these institutions will be considered existing since they were recognised through separate notifications between 2021 and 2024, according to the report by The New Indian Express.
The government also notified the Tamil Nadu Public Buildings (Licensing) Amendment Act that simplified procedures for granting licences to public buildings, which was also pending with the governor since December 2024, for which he granted assent two days after the SC verdict.
