Assam Private Universities Act, 2007
[Act No. 12 of 2007]
[30th April, 2007]
Preamble
An Act to provide for establishment and incorporation of private universities in the State of Assam for imparting higher education and to regulate their functions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Whereas it is expedient to provide for establishment and incorporation of private Universities in the State of Assam for imparting higher education and to regulate their functions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto;
It is hereby enacted in the Fifty-eighth Year of the Republic of India, as follows:-
Section 1 - Short title, extent and commencement
(1) This Act may be called the Assam Private Universities Act, 2007.
(2) It extends to the whole of Assam.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
Section 2 - Definitions
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) "AICTE" means All India Council of Technical Education established under All India Council of Technical Education Act (Central Act No. 52 of 1987) 1987;
(b) "CSIR" means the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, a funding agency of the Central Government;
(c) "DEC" means the Distance Education Council established under section 28 of Indira Gandhi National Open University Act(Central Act No. 50 of 1985) 1985;
(d) "distance education" means education imparted by combination of any two or more means of communication, viz. broadcasting, telecasting, correspondence courses, seminars, contact programmes and any other such methodology;
(e) "DST" means the Department of Science and Technology of the Central Government;
(f) "employee" means a person appointed by the university to work in the university, colleges, institutions or study centers and includes teachers, officers (other than the Visitor) and other employees of the university;
(g) "fee" means collection made by the university from the students by whatever name it may be called, which is not refundable;
(h) "Government" means the State Government of Assam;
(i) "higher education" means study of a curriculum or course for the pursuit of knowledge beyond 10+2 level;
(j) "hostel" means a place of residence for the students of the university, or its colleges, institutions or centers, maintained or recognized to be as such by the university;
(k) "ICAR" means the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, a society registered under the Societies Registration Act (Central Act No. 21 of 186) 1860;
(l) "MCI" means Medical Council of India, Delhi;
(m) "NAAC" means the National Council of Assessment and Accreditation, Bangalore, an autonomous institution of the UGC;
(n) "NCTE" means the National Council of Teacher Education, Delhi;
(o) "off campus centre" means a centre of the university established by it outside the main campus operated and maintained as its constituent unit, having the university''s complement of facilities, faculty and staff;
(p) "PCI" means Pharmaceutical Council of India, Delhi;
(q) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(r) "regulating body" means a body established by the Central Government for laying down norms and conditions for ensuring academic standards of higher education, such as UGC, AICTE,. NCTE, MCI, PCI, NAAC, ICAR, DEC, CSIR etc. and includes the State Government;
(s) "Rules" means the rules made under this Act;
(t) "Schedule" means the Schedule to this Act;
(u) "sponsoring body" in relation to a university established under this Act means-
(i) a society registered under the Societies Registration Act (Central Act No. 21 of 1860) 1860; or
(ii) any public trust registered under the Indian Trusts Act (Central Act No. 2 of 1882) 1882; or
(iii) a company registered under section 25 of the Companies Act (Central Act No. 1 of 1956) 1956;
(v) "Statutes", "Ordinances" and "Regulations" mean respectively, the Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations of the University made under this Act;
(w) "student of the university" means a person enrolled in the university for taking a course of study for a degree, diploma or other academic distinction duly instituted by the university, including a research degree;
(x) "study centre" means a centre established and maintained or recognized by the university for the purpose of advising, counselling or for rendering any other assistance required by the students in the context of distance education;
(y) "teacher" means a Professor, Reader, Lecturer or any other person required to impart education or to guide research or to render guidance in any other form to the students for pursuing a course of study of the university;
(z) "UGC" means the University Grants Commission, established under the University Grants Commission Act (Central Act No.3 of 1956) 1956;
(za) "university" means a university established and incorporated under section 6.
Section 3 - Objects of the University
Following shall be the objects of the university, namely:-
(1) to provide instructions, teaching and training in Higher Education and make provisions for research, advancement and dissemination of knowledge;
(2) to create higher levels of intellectual abilities;
(3) to establish state of the art facilities for education and training;
(4) to carry out teaching and research and offer continuing education programmes;
(5) to create centres of excellence for research and development and for sharing knowledge and its application;
(6) to establish campus in Assam and to have study centers at different places within its jurisdiction;
(7) to establish examination centres;
(8) to institute degrees, diplomas, certificates and other academic distinctions on the basis of examination, or any such other method;
(9) to ensure that the standard of degrees, diplomas, certificates and other academic distinctions are not lower than those laid down by AICTE, NCTE, UGC, MCI, Pharmacy Council, and other similar agency/ agencies established by the Central Government for regulation of education;
(10) to open study centers within its jurisdiction;
(11) to set up off campus centre within and out of the State, subject to the permission of the regulatory bodies under any law made by the Parliament and any regulation, rules etc. made by the regulating bodies;
(12) to pursue any other objective as may be approved by the Government.
Section 4 - Submission of proposal for establishment of a University and its evaluation
(1) An application containing the proposal and the project report to establish a university in private sector shall be made by the sponsoring body to the State Government, alongwith such fee as may be prescribed.
(2) The project report must contain the following particulars, namely:-
(a) the details of the sponsoring body alongwith the copies of its registration certificate, constitution and bye-laws;
(b) the information regarding financial resources of the sponsoring body alongwith audited accounts for the past five years;
(c) the name, location and headquarters of the proposed university;
(d) the objectives of the university;
(e) the availability of land and details of buildings and infrastructure facilities, if already exist and details of land,
building and other infrastructure proposed to be owned or created as required under the provisions of this Act;
(f) availability of academic facilities including teaching and non-teaching staff, if any, at the disposal of sponsoring body;
(g) the details of plans for campus development such as construction of buildings, development of structural amenities and infrastructure facilities and procurement of equipment etc. to be undertaken before the university starts functioning and phased programme for first five years;
(h) the phased outlays of capital expenditure proposed for the next five years and its sources of finance;
(i) the nature and the type of programmes of study and research proposed to be undertaken by the university and their relevance to the development goals and employment needs of the State and phasing of such programmes over the first five years with course-wise enrolment targets;
(j) the experience and expertise in the concerned disciplines at the command of the sponsoring body;
(k) the nature of facilities, courses of study and research proposed to be started;
(l) the estimated recurring expenditure course-wise or activity-wise, sources of finance and estimated expenditure per student;
(m) the scheme for mobilizing resources and the cost of capital thereto and the manner of repayment to such sources;
(n) the scheme for the generation of funds internally through the recovery of fee from students, revenues anticipated from consultancy services and other activities relating to the objects of the university, and other anticipated incomes;
(o) the proposed fee structure with reference to the details of expenditure on unit cost and the extent of concessions or rebates in fee or free-ships and scholarships to the poor students from economically poor or socially backward families, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and handicapped students;
(p) the system proposed to be followed for selecting students for admission to the courses of study at the university;
(q) the system proposed to be followed for appointment of teachers and other employees in the university;
(r) whether the university is desirous of taking up distance education programme. If so, details of study centres proposed to be started;
(s) whether the university proposes to undertake some programmes related to local needs. If so, the nature of specialized teaching, training or research activities to be undertaken by the university so as to fulfill this objective;
(t) whether the university proposes to start some programmes for the benefit of farmers, women and industries. If so, details thereof may be given;
(u) details of play grounds and other facilities available or proposed to be created for games and sports and extra curricular activities like National Cadet Corps, National Service...
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