NEW DELHI: Even as the government has listed the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, for passage in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, a meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) scheduled for Monday has been cancelled, said sources. The committee was to adopt the draft report of the bill.
The VBSA Bill proposes a massive overhaul of India’s higher-education sector by dissolving the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) to create a single, unified regulatory commission. This came a day after the Joint Committee of Parliament examining bills on removal of prime ministers and chief ministers detained on serious charges, deferred the adoption of a draft report when voting was under way Friday.
While both bills have drawn objections from opposition parties and some ruling BJP members, sources said that the Centre is keen to reintroduce the delimitation Bill in the upcoming session and priority will be to muster the two- thirds majority to pass the constitutional amendment bill. The BJP needs the support of its allies and some regional parties, and it doesn’t want to antagonise its allies by tabling other bills.
Slamming the Centre, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that two JPCs on very controversial Bills, one of which requires Constitutional amendments and the other of which is a clear case of Constitutional overreach, have put off adopting their reports just two days before the Monsoon session of Parliament begins.
“The humiliation suffered by the Modi government in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 2026 clearly has cast a long shadow that persists in spite of the Union Home Minister’s bluff, brag, and bluster,” said Ramesh in a post.
It may be recalled that TNIE has reported on Friday that the JPC on VBSA Bill, in its report sought safeguards against excessive centralisation, stronger consultation with states and protection of institutional autonomy in the proposed legislation.
According to the draft report circulated among members, the panel has recommended changes to key clauses that drew sharp criticism from multiple quarters, including NDA allies and Opposition parties, for granting the Center sweeping powers to override policy disagreements, supersede regulatory bodies and exercise control over funding.