No decision to scrap UGC: HRD ministry

The ministry of human resource development (HRD) on Wednesday clarified that no decision on scrapping the University Grants Commission (UGC) had been taken.

In a statement, the ministry said that the committee headed by former UGC chairperson Hari Gautam had submitted its report to the secretary (Higher Education) but it was yet to be "examined".

The announcement came following a media report stating that the commission had "failed to fulfil its mandate" and that its restructuring would be a "futile" exercise and so will be amending the UGC Act".

"The news report that UGC is getting scrapped is incorrect and uncalled for," the ministry said Wednesday.

"The HRD ministry had constituted a committee of experienced and credible academicians to recommend restructuring and strengthening UGC for attaining even better performance to meet the desired objective," it added.

The statement also said that the mandate given to the committee was to "analyse, review and recommend" to the ministry the architecture required, and the ministry will have to take a view after going through it threadbare.

"Hence, no such decision has been taken and the recommendations are yet to be understood and analysed before any decision is taken in the matter.

"The UGC has been created by an Act of the Parliament and cannot be unilaterally scrapped," it added.