The Bar Council of India (BCI) is understood to have been told by the ministers that it will continue to regulate the pure legal degrees while the Higher Education and Research (HER) Bill only aims at establishing a mechanism at putting in place a regulatory framework for allied degrees, a combined study of legal and other subjects.
Several important bills, like the Educational Tribunals Bill, Foreign Education Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill 2010, the Education Malpractices Bill, the Accreditation Bill, the high profile National Academic Depository (Amendment) Bill, 2011, and National Council for Higher Education and Research 2011 are still pending before Parliament.
Despite a serious attempt, the HRD ministry was unable to get these important bills passed in the Budget Session of the Parliament, putting additional pressure on Union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal for pushing the UPA’s education reform agenda.
The UPA government’s ambitious plan to reform higher education in the country has been delayed with important bills stuck at various stages in the Parliament. Over the past few months, Mr Sibal is understood to have unsuccessfully engaged in several rounds of consultation with MPs to ensure that these bills are passed.