New Delhi, Aug. 23: The Union rural development minister, Mr C.P. Joshi, on Monday reportedly sought clarification regarding the Educational Tribunals Bill 2010 before the Cabinet gave its nod to the Bill which seeks to set up a two-tier structure of Educational Tribunals at the national and state level to adjudicate on disputes in the higher education system.
Sources stated that the clearance to the Bill comes without incorporating changes proposed by the Parliamentary standing committee on HRD.
Sources stated that Mr Joshi wanted to understand certain provisions of the Bill.
“The HRD minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, explained the intricacies of the Bill and was able to remove all doubts of the minister," sources added.
The Cabinet decided to clear the Bill without making the changes proposed by the standing committee.
Sources said that the Bill is likely to be taken up for consideration this week.
The Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha earlier, was referred to the concerned Parliamentary Standing Committee for its scrutiny. This paper had last week reported that the standing committee had sought to make several changes in the Bill.
The standing committee had asked the ministry to ensure a wider consultation process for the Bill involving all states, Union territories, stakeholders and private institutions.
The committee noted that the HRD ministry had not held direct consultations regarding the Bill with regulatory bodies like Medical Council of India and Dental Council of India. It had also sought to ensure financial viability of these tribunals.
The Educational Tribunals Bill proposes to create tribunals to act as forums for fast-track and speedy resolution of issues in institutions in order to build an effective system of checks and balances in higher education.
The state tribunals will adjudicate matters concerning teachers, employees and students of institutions in the respective states.
The national tribunal would deal with all matters concerning regulatory bodies in higher education and also matters involving institutes located in two or more states.