Self-financing colleges advocate rethink on land size in amendment to T.N. State Universities Act

The Association of Self-Financing Arts, Science and Management Colleges of Tamil Nadu (ASFASMTN) has questioned the rationale behind location-specific land requirement specified in the amendment to the Tamil Nadu State Universities Act, that encourages formation of Brownfield Universities.

The amendment permits conversion of existing private and aided colleges into Brownfield Universities and reduces the minimum extent of contiguous land to 25 acres in Municipal Corporation areas, 35 acres in Town Panchayat areas, and 50 acres in rural areas.

The Association, at its 21st Annual General Meeting held in Coimbatore recently, adopted a resolution requesting the State government to review and reconsider the amendment, to ensure equitable and uniform norms for all higher education institutions across the State.

“We appreciate the government’s intent to support deserving institutions and harmonise the norms with those of other States, but are concerned over differential land norms,” T. Sethupati, association secretary, said.

All institutions of higher education—irrespective of their location—are subject to uniform regulatory standards under the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 and relevant State enactments.

“Prescription of minimum land area forms part of the broader mechanism for coordination and determination of educational standards, as envisaged under Entry 66 of List I and Entry 25 of List III of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. Any condition relating to standardisation of education, including land area, must therefore be applied uniformly across all institutions, irrespective of geographical or administrative classification,” the Association said in its representation to the Chief Minister.

The land requirement cannot be tweaked merely on the ground that contiguous land parcels are harder to obtain in urban areas. The revised norms, in effect, prescribe larger land requirements for rural colleges while relaxing them for urban colleges. This disproportionately affects rural institutions that have for long been serving students from economically weaker and socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Association recommended consideration of colleges founded more than ten years ago, and are accredited by NAAC with at least an ‘A’ Grade (CGPA of 3.00 or above) at the time of applying, for University status within their existing government-approved land area.

The Association also requested the government to convene a meeting with the stake-holders for discussing the way forward.