Chennai: Tamil Nadu has decided to pull the Tamil Nadu Private Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2025, just days after it was tabled in the State Assembly on October 15. This was done at the request of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Higher Education Minister Dr. Govi Chezhiaan said on Saturday.
Dr. Chezhiaan made it clear that the change was simply meant to make it easier to set up new private institutions and to let private colleges that meet certain requirements become universities. One of the bill’s main points was to lower the minimum land requirement for new institutions from 100 acres to 25 acres inside corporate borders, 35 acres in municipal or town panchayat districts, and 50 acres in rural areas, following the example of other states.
He stressed that there were enough protections in place to protect the rights of students, teachers, and non-teaching staff. He promised that the Dravidian Model government would not back down on social justice, admission quotas, fee regulation, or employee rights, even while making more higher education opportunities available.
Dr. Chezhiaan said that Tamil Nadu already has one of the highest gross enrollment ratios in India. The bill’s primary goal was to make it easier to get large, contiguous land lots in cities.
However, the proposal caused a lot of worry among lawmakers, academics, and members of civil society. Critics said that if the amendment were passed, it may let colleges that get government money turn into private universities. This could hurt reservation policy and make higher education more like a business.
Academics have warned that the plan could lead to high prices, limited access for poor students, and eventually complete privatization, which would hurt professors in aided universities by taking away their government-set salary.
Because there was a lot of opposition and a lot of different opinions in the Assembly and in public forums, Chief Minister Stalin told the measure to be withdrawn. This ends the problem for now.