A month on, formation of cluster university with KC College stuck

Less than a month after the Maharashtra state cabinet approved the formation of the Hyderabad Sind National Collegiate (HSNC) University, the Project Approval Board

Less than a month after the Maharashtra state cabinet approved the formation of the Hyderabad Sind National Collegiate (HSNC) University, the Project Approval Board (PAB) for Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyaan decided to disapprove the move. HSNC University will bring together colleges such as HR College, KC College in Churchgate as well as Bombay Teachers’ Training College in Colaba (all part of the HSNC board).

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In a meeting held in Delhi earlier this month, PAB decided to cancel the conversion of HSNC University and three institutes under the Rayat Shikshan Sanstha into cluster universities, citing “non-enactment of Act” as one of the reasons.

In 2018, the Centre had rejected proposal for these two universities as the state had not acted on the formation of the first approved cluster university — Homi Bhabha State University — which finally came through this year. After the RUSA had approved the HSNC University, the state had defaulted on the three-month deadline to approve the university and release an official notification on the same.

“While the state cabinet nod came through in the last week of August and we have already started work on the implementation of the new status, we cannot officially do it unless the state government releases a gazette notification on the status. This process is taking time,” said Dinesh Panjwani, spokesperson for the HSNC board.

“The PAB decided to defer the decision on these two cluster universities as some more time was requested for the enactment of the Act by the state government,” stated the PAB circular.