The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday approved an ordinance making it mandatory for new and existing private universities to give an undertaking that they will not be involved in “any anti-national activity”, The Times of India reported.

Universities would also have to submit that they will not allow such activities to take place within their premises or in the name of the university. “Any such act would be construed as violation of the rules of establishment and the government can take action,” the ordinance said.

The Uttar Pradesh Private Universities Ordinance, 2019, will now be presented in the state Assembly in the session beginning from July 18. The existing 27 private universities in the state have been given a year to promulgate rules according to the ordinance.

Under the ordinance, national integration, secularism, social harmony, international goodwill, moral building and “desh bhakti” or patriotism have been included as the objectives of universities, The Hindu reported.

The ordinance would bring all private universities in the state, including the existing ones, under an umbrella act. At present, private universities are governed by separate acts and sanctions.

Cabinet minister Sidharth Nath Singh said the umbrella act would override all other acts as a “controlling body” to monitor and regulate private universities.

One of the clauses of the ordinance states that universities will not be allowed to bestow an honorary degree without the state government’s approval, The Times of India reported.

Singh said provisions in the ordinance attempts to bring uniformity to the fee structure, quality of education, implementation of the guidelines of the University Grants Commission and to “introduce the best practices of international universities. The ordinance also states that a minimum of 75% of teachers appointed to private universities would be permanent and not contractual and the quality of their teaching would be monitored online, the Cabinet minister said.