Draconian, anti-Constitution: Congress on UGC draft rules

The Congress on Tuesday, 14 January, termed the draft UGC regulations for the appointment of teachers and academic staff in universities and colleges 'draconian and anti-Constitution' and demanded that they be withdrawn immediately.

Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh took note of 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, recently published by the University Grants Commission in a post on X.

'Among its many disastrous ideas include the following: Removal of the 10 per cent ceiling on contractual professorships, opening the gates for the large-scale contractualisation of teaching in higher education. This is going to destroy the quality of our institutions and the spirit of academic independence,' he wrote.

The former union minister also claimed that the draft rules propose a withdrawal of all powers of the state governments in appointing vice-chancellors to state universities and giving the Centre (through the UGC and the university's chancellor, typically the Centre-appointed governor of the state) unilateral power in this regard.

'The rules have also been amended to allow non-academics to be nominated vice chancellors, a move that is fully intended to enable the appointment of RSS apparatchiks in positions of power over academia.

'M.C. Sudhakar, the minister of higher education in the government of Karnataka, has already written to the union minister for education against these draconian, anti-Constitution rules. The Congress rejects them and calls for an immediate withdrawal of the draft rules,' Ramesh said.

Edited agency inputs