Why the Tamil Nadu Private Universities (Amendment) Act, 2026 created controversy? Explained

Story so far: On 8 September 2026, the last day of the budget session of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, Higher Education Minister P. Viswanathan introduced the Tamil Nadu Private Universities (Amendment) Act, 2026, which seeks to drastically change the legal requirements for setting up private universities in the state. The bill was eventually passed. The Communist Party of India (CPI), which provides external support to the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led coalition government, and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) opposed the bill. Now Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has asked the state government to explain the provisions of the Act.

What are the key changes in the bill?

According to clause (a) of section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Private Universities Act, 2019, enacted by the then Edappadi Palaniswami-led government, a minimum of 100 acres of contiguous land is required to establish a private university in Tamil Nadu. Also, under Section 46(1) of the Act, the sponsor should set up a permanent endowment fund of ₹50 million to meet the expenses of running the private college on its demise.

However, citing scarcity of land in the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) area, the government has prescribed a minimum of 12 acres of contiguous land as part of its limits in the amended bill. For other municipal corporations and municipal councils, the minimum land requirement has been revised to 18 acres, while for the rest of the state, the minimum land requirement has been fixed at 25 acres. In addition, the government decided to reduce the permanent endowment fund to ₹25 crore.

Why did the government propose these changes?

The Statement of Objectives and Reasons section of the Bill states that the state government has followed the recommendations of the Deregulation and Deregulation Task Force set up by the Union government to simplify rules, reduce paperwork and ease of doing business across states. In terms of education, the task force identified five areas of concern. She recommended amending the relevant provisions of the law in such a way that the minimum land requirements and the minimum requirement of an endowment fund for the establishment of higher education institutions are removed.

Which institutions does this amendment apply to?

The changes would extend to all private universities established under the Tamil Nadu Private Universities Act, 2019, and to Shiv Nadar University and Sai University, which were established in 2018 through special legislation before the parent Act came into force.

What is the justification provided by the higher education department officials?

While the bill says the recommendation came from the Compliance Reduction and Deregulation Task Force, Higher Education Department officials say they examined land-use patterns at existing private institutions and the availability of adjacent land across the state before coming up with the numbers.

While large tracts of contiguous land were only available outside cities, 100 acres of contiguous land were difficult to find even in many rural areas. This meant that institutions would be located far from urban centers, the unintended consequence of which was the difficulty of attracting good teachers. Also for students, traveling to and from college would be cumbersome and time consuming.

During the review, the officials reportedly found that the institution having 100 acres hardly utilized the entire acreage to develop facilities for students. The basic requirements of the academic block, administrative block and student hostels can even be housed in vertical structures, which would also allow enough space for children’s playgrounds. This is how the three-tiered structure of securing land requirements was born.

As for the subsidy amount, officials said they studied the current practice in several other states and then arrived at the number.

What are the concerns?

There were dissenting voices from the CPI and PMK when the bill was introduced in the Assembly. The CPI has since argued that such a move will lead to commercialization of education, which would go against the principle of social justice followed by successive governments in the state. The PMK was of the view that apart from the commercialization of education, the reduction in land requirements could lead to inadequate infrastructure in these universities. The higher education minister defended the bill, saying it would attract world-class institutions to Tamil Nadu.

DMK members were not present in the House when the bill was passed as they were evicted from the House earlier in the day. Members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) were also absent from the House.

What has been the general reaction to the proposed change?

Academics fear that the amended bill could make it easier for the current self-financing colleges in the state to set up private colleges or affiliate their institution with private universities.

What was the government’s response?

Officials from the Ministry of Higher Education allayed these concerns, saying that attempts to “convert” existing self-financing colleges that are affiliated to state universities into private universities or their branches “will not be allowed” as these new entities were greenfield universities and should not be confused with brownfield universities. It is to be mentioned here that last year, the then DMK government tried to bring an amendment to the Tamil Nadu Private Universities Act, 2019, which sought to introduce a provision to allow conversion of existing self-financing or government-aided institutions into brownfield universities. The government had to withdraw the bill in the face of stiff opposition from opposition parties, teachers’ unions, student organizations and the public.

The current bill treads a different line and allows some relaxation for the establishment of green field universities.

What does the Shiv Nadar University experience say?

However, concerns have not yet been allayed. The SSN College of Engineering experience is one reason. The college applied for phased separation from Anna University in September 2025 and secured progressive separation from Anna University in September 2025. It has stopped taking students through the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) counseling process from the academic year 2026–2027 and is in the process of merging with Shiv Nadar University. The admission of students for the new entity will now be handled by a private college.

Before disaffiliation, SSN College of Engineering was mandated to collect the tuition fee set by the Fee Fixation Committee, as per the norms of the Government of Tamil Nadu. According to the SNU website, the UG degree fees for the new SSN School of Engineering are six times higher than what was collected from students earlier.

This leads to enough discomfort among the student community. Student organizations affiliated to Left parties have launched protests in Tamil Nadu against the bill. They say reducing land requirements would accelerate the privatization of education and give profits to profit-driven entities to charge higher fees. As found in the NEET coaching issue, students from well-off backgrounds would benefit, leaving poorer students behind and widening the socio-economic gap.

The jury is still out on this one. Nevertheless, the move definitely signals the government’s intention to allow multidisciplinary universities to thrive in the state, while claiming to retain some control over them.

What does the parental law entail?

The Tamil Nadu Private Universities Act, 2019 means that the Executive Council of Private Universities includes the Secretary of Higher Education and the Director of Higher Education as ex-officio members, as per Section 26 of the Act. Under Section 50, the government has the right to request information and records from private universities if it believes there is a violation of law, statutes, or ordinances. The government also has the power to derecognize private universities.

In the last few decades, several stand-alone colleges offering multiple disciplines have been upgraded to ‘Deemed University’ status by the Union Ministry of Education on the recommendation of the University Grants Commission (UGC). It gave these institutions the freedom to revise their curricula, conduct examinations, award degrees and, above all, adjust their own fee structures and admission policies, removing every shred of government control over them. There are about 30 operating in Tamil Nadu. There is an argument that the recent amendments to the Tamil Nadu Private Universities Act are an attempt to counter the growing number of universities deemed to be state within the state and to exercise an element of control over their affairs.

what next

The state government must now satisfy the governor that it has addressed all the legal requirements before changing the 2019 law.

Published – 21 Sep 2026 12:03 IST