Make sure autonomy of universities is protected: Speaker

Speaker Nana Patole on Tuesday directed state higher and technical education minister Uday Samant to ensure the autonomy of universities is protected and there is

Speaker Nana Patole on Tuesday directed state higher and technical education minister Uday Samant to ensure the autonomy of universities is protected and there is no interference in their daily affairs.

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The directives were issued after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Ashish Shelar complained the minister’s staff has sought information from universities which amounted to violation of their autonomy. Samant later clarified there was need to collect detailed information from the universities and so letters were sent from his office. “The minister should ensure the autonomy of the universities will be protected and there should be no interference in their day-to-day affairs,” Patole said. “There is no question of government’s interference. We have always cooperated with the universities. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India had sought a report related to funds for universities and the budgetary provisions. The information was sought for that,” said the minister in a media interaction.

Sharing an example, he said the government has given ₹1 crore as fund to Elphinstone College in 2019, but we are yet to get details on utilisation of the fund.

Home minister Anil Deshmukh said on Tuesday the state government will move the Supreme Court in appeal against the anticipatory bail given to Urvashi Chudawala, a trans-identified woman booked under sedition charges for raising ‘anti national’ slogans at an LGBTQ event at Azad Maidan on February 1.

They was seen raising slogans in support of sedition-accused Sharjeel Imam, a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student, who is jail under section 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

When leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said in the house that Chudawala has been given interim bail by the court and demanded the government should move the SC, Deshmukh said the state will do so to ensure action against “anti-national” activities.