New Delhi, February 25 The first meeting of the joint committee of Parliament, set up to examine the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA) Bill, which seeks to establish a single higher education regulator, will be held on Thursday.
According to the schedule shared with the members, the committee will be briefed by the Ministry of Education (Department of Higher Education) and the Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department) on the legislation in the first meeting.
The 31-member committee is headed by BJP MP D Purandeswari.
According to a Lok Sabha secretariat notification issued on February 10, the committee comprises members from both houses of Parliament and will scrutinise the provisions of the proposed legislation before submitting its report.
The VBSA Bill, introduced during the Winter session, seeks to overhaul the higher education regulatory framework in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation aims to replace multiple existing regulators with a single overarching body and provide for the separation of accreditation, funding, and standard-setting functions.
The government had told Lok Sabha its intent to send the bill to a joint panel for wider consultations amid concerns raised by opposition parties over issues relating to federalism, institutional autonomy, and centralization of powers.
The JPC is expected to invite suggestions from stakeholders, including state governments and academic bodies, before finalizing its recommendations.
Those who are part of the committee are Anurag Singh Thakur, Vivek Thakur, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Vamsi Krishna Gaddam, Tejasvi Surya, Sribharat Mathukumilli, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Pradip Kumar Varma, Meenakshi Jain, M Thambidurai, Sagarika Ghosh, Sambit Patra, Hemang Joshi, Sougata Ray, Indra Hang Subba, Digvijaya Singh, E T Mohammed Basheer, Sasmit Patra, Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, Bansuri Swaraj, Brijmohan Agrawal, Lalji Verma, Ram Gopal Yadav, Surendra Singh Nagar, Varsha Gaikwad, Alok Kumar Suman, Anil Desai, Sanjay Kumar Jha, T R Baalu, and Shrikant Shinde.