The Kerala Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution urging the Union government to withdraw the Draft University Grants Commission Regulations, 2025, reported ANI.

Issued on January 6, 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.

“We are presenting this resolution at a time when there are concerns raised by state governments and academic experts,” said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan while presenting the resolution in Kerala Assembly on Tuesday.

He added that universities in each state of work according to the laws passed by their state legislative Assembly. Any move to impose central regulations without consultation would undermine the federal structure of India, Vijayan was quoted as saying by India Today.

The new regulations could have major implications for Opposition-ruled states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala. In the past, the governments in these states have tussled with the governors – who serve as the chancellors of state universities – over academic appointments.

On January 9, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a similar resolution against the rules.

Introducing the resolution, Chief Minister MK Stalin 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 the state’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 Monday, Stalin wrote to the chief ministers of Opposition-ruled states, urging them to pass resolutions against the rules on the lines of Tamil Nadu, reported Deccan Herald.

After the resolution was passed in the Kerala Assembly, state Minister of Higher Education and Social Justice R Bindu said: “We are determined to form joint platforms of like-minded state governments because we consider this as an onslaught on the rights of the state governments in the field of education.”

The University Grants Commission, however, has defended the rules and stated that the revised process “eliminates ambiguity and ensures transparency”, reported ANI.

On January 10, the commission’s chairman M Jagadeesh told the news agency that the new rules bring “much-needed clarity” by specifying the composition of the vice chancellor-search-cum-selection committee.

Jagadeesh said the committee will have three members – one selected by the chancellor, another by the chairman of the University Grants Commission and a third by the university’s executive council or senate.

In 2023, the Kerala government had 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 it 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”.