Calling for a structural reset in Indian education similar to the 1991 economic reforms, the report of the High-Level Committee on Union-State Relations, tabled by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in the Assembly on Wednesday, said Governors of States should be divested of their role of Chancellors of State universities and recommended for education be shifted back entirely to the State List.
According to the report, the office of the Governor wields authority without responsibility and generates avoidable Union-State friction. Since States establish, fund, administer, and are democratically accountable for running universities, they should be free to appoint an eminent, non-partisan Chancellor. Governors should not obstruct such reforms by withholding assent or referring Bills to the President in the absence of any genuine constitutional issue, the report said.
“What appears as a bureaucratic tussle over Vice-Chancellor appointments conceals a far deeper constitutional contest between federalism and creeping centralisation, between plenary State legislative authority and the overreach of Central subordinate legislation, and between academic autonomy and bureaucratic control. Given the profound implications for Union-State relations, and the conflicting Supreme Court decisions on the interplay between UGC Regulations and State University Acts, a definitive pronouncement by a Constitution Bench is now imperative,” the report said.
The report also pointed out that after five decades of growing centralisation, the promise that enhanced Union control would deliver higher educational quality and uniform standards has not been realised. “On almost every global indicator, India lags far behind decentralised federations such as the U.S., Canada, Australia and Germany…Even India’s premier universities remain peripheral in international rankings. High stakes national entrance examinations have further distorted secondary schooling, entrenched inequality, undermined student wellbeing and created single-point failure risks through over centralised testing,” it said.
The report recommended to completely free the top 100 universities and institutes from oversight by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and other regulations, subject to a 10-year review, with additional institutions being added over time. It also said the authority over admissions to institutions established, funded and administered by the States must rest exclusively with the States and their universities.
“This prerogative should not be appropriated by the Union under the guise of maintaining standards, as exemplified by the NEET regime,” the report said, while advocating for disbanding the National Testing Agency to mitigate “systemic risk of single-point failure.” It said the responsibility for conducting entrance exams should revert to the diverse agencies that managed them prior 2018.
The Union should withdraw from the direct management of schools, colleges, and universities, and instead focus on functions such as funding advanced research, supporting institutions of national importance, and coordinating minimum academic and research standards. The objective is not to diminish the Union’s role, but to right-size it, the report added.
Published – February 18, 2026 05:33 pm IST
