The Joint Committee of Parliament, constituted to examine the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, which aims to subsume multiple higher education regulators into a single “umbrella” Commission in an NEP 2020-driven overhaul, is now expected to submit its report by the end of the Monsoon Session this year.
The 31-member Committee was constituted this week by the Speaker after the Government introduced the legislation last December, immediately moving that the Bill be sent to a joint committee of Parliament. The Bill was introduced to objections from Opposition MPs, who argued that it represented “executive overreach”, subjected higher education institutes to “pervasive executive control, graded autonomy, intrusive compliance requirements, severe penalties, and closure powers”, and went against the principles of federalism.
A Bill that reimagines higher education regulation
Soon after moving that the Bill be examined by a Joint Committee, officials had said the government was expecting the report of the panel by the end of the 2026 Budget Session.
On Thursday (February 12, 2026), however, the head of the joint committee, D. Purandeswari (BJP), moved a motion seeking an extension in the time to submit its report, which was passed in Lok Sabha. Ms. Purandeswari sought time till the first day of the last week of the Monsoon Session for the committee to submit its report.
