Varsities to establish colleges, campuses
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Apr 2: The Government today introduced two bills -the Jammu and Kashmir Private Universities Bill, 2026 and the Jammu and Kashmir Jan Vishwas Second (Amendment of Provisions) Bill 2026 in the Assembly
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The Minister for Education, Sakeena Itoo, introduced the Bill in the Assembly for the establishment and incorporation of private universities in Jammu and Kashmir while the Bill to amend certain enactments for discriminating and rationalising offences for ease of living and ease of doing business and also to repeal certain enactments was introduced by Chief Minister , Omar Abdullah in the House.
Through “The Bill for the Establishment and Incorporation of Private Universities in Jammu and Kashmir and for Ensuring Academic Standards to Safeguard Quality Education and Protect the Interests of Students,” the Government proposes for the establishment of private Universities in the UT of J&K to supplement its efforts in promoting higher education.
For this purpose, it is necessary to establish a framework for the governance , management and regulation of private universities to ensure maintenance of standards and quality education. Through this Bill, the Government intends to protect the interests of the students in private universities and prevent commercialization of education.
As per the statement of the Bill, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing a growing demand for quality higher education. With the limited capacity of Government universities, there is a need to encourage the establishment of Private Universities to supplement the efforts of the Government in promoting higher education and to provide more opportunities for the youth of the region.
At the same time, it is essential to put in place a robust regulatory framework to ensure that Private Universities maintain academic standards, protect the interests of students, and do not indulge in commercialization of education.
This Bill seeks to provide for the establishment of Private Universities by sponsoring bodies that meet the specified criteria, establish a Regulatory Authority to oversee the functioning of Private Universities, prescribe the governance structure of private universities to ensure accountability, mandate compliance with UGC regulations and academic standards, provide for reservation of seats for local students and scholarships for the needy, prohibit capitation fee and other malpractices, provide for inspection, monitoring, and penalties for non-compliance, ensure protection of interests of students in case of dissolution of a Private University.
The Bill will create an enabling environment for the establishment of quality Private Universities in Jammu and Kashmir, while ensuring that the interests of students and the quality of higher education are safeguarded, the statement added.
As per the Bill the Government may permit the establishment of a Private University by any sponsoring body in the manner provided under this Act and shall declare such establishment by notification upon satisfaction of the conditions specified in section 4.
The Private University shall be of the unitary type with its main campus in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and shall not have power to affiliate or recognize any college or institution.
The Private University may establish constituent colleges, regional centers, additional campuses and study centers at such places in the Union Territory as it deems fit subject to the norms of UGC and other regulatory bodies.
The Private University shall have adequate facilities for teaching ,research, examination and extension services.
The sponsoring body and its members shall be of sound financial status and good repute.
The Bill pertaining to the Jammu and Kashmir Jan Vishwas Second (Amendment of Provisions) Act 2026 introduced by Chief Minister in the House will come into force on the date of its publication in the official gazette.
As per the statement of the Bill in order to align the legal framework of the UT of J&K with the national initiative on decriminalisation of minor offences viz Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act 2023 enacted by the Parliament and to ensure the compliance of BRAP Agenda to reduce the compliance burden on business, promote cases of doing business and ease of living, the Jammu and Kashmir Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) ordinance 2025 (Ordinance 1 of 2025 was promulgated on 16th of December , 2025 to decriminalise minor offences of five acts to achieve the said objective.
In continuation to this, further exercise has been carried out to decriminalise minor offences across various laws to reduce the compliance burden on business, promote ease of doing business and ease of living. Accordingly the Jammu and Kashmir Jan Vishwas Second (Amendment of Provisions) Bill 2026 has been prepared, inter -alia amending 18 acts of Jammu and Kashmir to substitute minor imprisonments by compounding of fine and also to increase fine , where meagre fine has been provided for violations and no revision of same was effected till date.
Besides, 19 appropriation acts of Jammu and Kashmir and also the Jammu and Kashmir obsolete Laws (Repeal) Act, 2010 is proposed to be repealed which has outlived their utility and are no more in use which is also initiate of Government of India to repeal obsolete laws. The compliance of the issue is regularly being monitored by Government of India under the agenda of Business Reform Action Plan, hence the Bill has been introduced.
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