Accusing Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan alleged on Thursday that the UGC draft is trying to completely exclude the states through its regulations that are destroying federalism.

He said the draft UGC regulations of 2025 not only diminish the role of state governments in higher education but also sideline them.

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Speaking after inaugurating a National Convention organized by the state government to rally non-BJP states against the UGC draft regulations, the chief minister said under the draft regulations, the states have no role in the appointment of vice-chancellors and assistant professors in state-established universities and termed them as undemocratic and excessive

“The draft proposal gives the chancellor the power to appoint anyone as vice-chancellor. It challenges the power of the legislatures. The governors of non-BJP states are trying to put pressure on the state governments,” he said.

“If the Chancellor can appoint anyone from a panel, undoubtedly the appointment will be at the behest of the political powers that have appointed the Governor, as in almost all state universities, Governors are Chancellors. Such politically motivated interventions can seriously impinge upon the standards of higher education in the country,” he said.

He said Governors, as Chancellors, have made political interference in universities in the states and the same is expected to increase once the draft regulations become law.

The Kerala CM further said that there was every possibility of the present political dispensation at the Centre substituting people with academic excellence by those of political choice, as has happened in many iconic institutions, ranging from the Pune Film Institute to the ICHR.

He said the draft UGC regulations was part of the efforts to place higher education under the control of those promoting religious and communal ideologies and therefore, it cannot be allowed to pass.

Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu, and Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka also spoke on the occasion. Bindu said the regulations were not only an incursion into the constitutional provisions, but would dilute the academic quality in the state universities. She said the regulations carried potential dangers to the freedom and autonomy of the states in higher education.