Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday introduced a resolution in the Assembly calling for the immediate withdrawal of the Draft University Grants Commission Regulations, 2025, reported The Hindu.

The regulations propose granting governors the authority to form a three-member committee to appoint vice chancellors of universities.

The new rules also propose to allow industry experts and public sector veterans to be appointed as vice chancellors, moving away from the convention of selecting only academics.

Stalin’s resolution described the Draft University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025, as detrimental to federalism and Tamil Nadu’s higher education system.

“It will severely impact the future of the youth of Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said, urging the Centre to revoke the proposed rules.

On Wednesday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan criticised the new draft regulations, describing them as part of an effort to abolish the rights of states in the field of higher education, reported The Indian Express.

The new regulations could have major implications for Opposition-ruled states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala, according to the newspaper. These states have recently witnessed tussles between the state governments and governors – who serve as the chancellors of state universities – over academic appointments.

On Wednesday, Vijayan claimed that the new draft was a continuation of the “commercialisation, communalisation and centralisation policies imposed by the UGC and the central government”.

“This suggestion has shattered the constitutional perspective that the Governor should act as per the advice of the Council of Ministers,” he said. “The appointment of VCs in universities in states as per the interests of the Union government [which appoints Governors], is a challenge to the concurrent list in the Constitution.”

“This is just a short route to bring Sangh Parivar nominees to the top of the governance of universities,” Vijayan added. “There is strong protest against the encroachment upon the rights of states. I urge all democratic forces in the country to come out against the Sangh Parivar agenda in the UGC draft regulations.”

Vijayan’s party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), demanded that the draft regulations be withdrawn. “All democratic sections, including non-BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] state governments, should unitedly oppose this dangerous provision,” the party said.

In 2023, the Kerala government attempted to remove the governor as the chancellor of state universities, with the Assembly passing a bill to that effect.

This was done amid a clash between the government and former Governor Arif Mohammed Khan. Khan had referred the legislation to the president, who has not yet granted assent.

In May 2024, the Kerala High Court cancelled four nominations made by Khan to the senate of the University of Kerala and said that his role as the chancellor did not allow him “unbridled power”.