Chennai: Tamil Nadu would fight, legally and politically, the UGC’s latest move to bring in new regulations granting Governors broader control over the appointment of Vice Chancellors and allowing non-academics to hold these posts, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Tuesday.
Since Tamil Nadu led the nation with the highest number of top-ranking institutes of higher education, it would not stay silent over their institutions being stripped of their autonomy, Stalin said in a message on X.
The proposed new regulations were a direct assault on federalism and state rights and the authoritarian move by the Union BJP government was aimed at centralizing power and undermining democratically elected state governments, he said.
"Education must remain in the hands of those chosen by the people, not dictated by Governors acting at the BJP government’s behest," he said.
Since Education was a subject under the Concurrent List in the Constitution, the move of the UGC to issue the notification unilaterally was unconstitutional, he said, adding: ‘This overreach is unacceptable.’
