New education Bill is ‘constitutional overreach’: Cong.

20 MARCH 2026

The proposed legislation to restructure the regulatory framework of higher education represents constitutional overreach by the Union government, the Congress said.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA) Bill, 2025, was introduced without consulting States, bureaucratises higher education, and hands over grant-giving powers to the Education Ministry that is controlled by politicians, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said.
Mr. Ramesh added that a Parliamentary panel has flagged a high number of vacancies at existing regulatory bodies, including the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The Bill proposes to subsume these bodies, and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) into a single 12-member Commission, under which three separate Regulatory, Accreditation, and Standards Councils will operate.
The Bill seeks to divide UGC’s grant-giving powers from the regulatory structure to minimise conflicts of interest, with the government saying future funding mechanisms will be designed by the Education Ministry.