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Last year, the Ministry of Human Resource Development had released regulations for autonomous colleges which was accepted by Maharashtra. However, the regulations and the statutes that have been released are yet to be implemented by the state Universities.
On February 12 2018, the Ministry of Human Resource Development had published a set of regulations for autonomous colleges, which have been accepted by Maharashtra. However, 11 of the state Universities are still expected to adhere to the regulations.
Reports state that there are a total of 84 colleges that are autonomous, which rank the state second after Tamil Nadu in India. The regulations had been published on 12th February 2018, accepted by the Maharashtra Government on 28th May 2018. This year, on 14th January, the state’s Department of Higher and Technical Education released a ‘uniform statutes for the grant of autonomy to affiliated colleges’.
The Uniform Statutes state that the autonomous colleges in Maharashtra have the authoriaation to commence new programmes or courses from the list of courses by UGC. The affiliated colleges will, however, be required to inform the parent university of the new courses beforehand, i.e. 30th April, even though they need not ask for permission from the university.
The President of Forum for Autonomous Colleges in Maharashtra, T A Shiware, expressed his displeasure on the colleges defying the regulations put forward by the MHRD. He stated that some of the colleges in the state have begun new courses while others have not. The Vice-Chancellors of the colleges have also failed to follow the regulations which require them to bring the necessary provisions to the meetings held by the management council and adopt the decision.
Another regulation that has not been followed by the state universities is the payment of the one-time affiliation fee levied on the autonomous colleges. Sources state that various autonomous colleges are paying varying affiliation fees to the Universities in Maharashtra. The University authorities have been directed to issue a decision with respect to the matter with the respective management councils.
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Mr Shiware also stated that once the colleges are granted the autonomous status, they are not required to pay the 25% examinations fees to their parent University as all the college examinations are conducted by the colleges themselves. Giving the example of Mumbai University, Shiware stated that the varsity has been taking the 25% examination fees from autonomous colleges, even though the exams are conducted by the affiliated colleges themselves. Among other issues that had been highlighted by the forum, they added that there was a need for a single-window system for all autonomous colleges at the respective universities.
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To resolve the matter, Shiware announced the Forum had met with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, who stated that the matter will be analysed and looked into. Mr Shiware further stated that will continue to wait for the next 10 to 15 days for more response on the matter.
