Bill to grant university status to 2 pvt institutions passed in Punjab Assembly

As the state Assembly on Friday unanimously passed legislation to grant university status to Rayat Bahra Professional University, Hoshiarpur, and CGC University, Janjheri (Mohali), Opposition Congress MLAs demanded a strong regulatory body that had powers to penalise and conduct inspections of the private institutions.

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With today’s approval, the legislation takes the total tally of private universities in the state to 19.

As the private universities are set up under the Punjab Private Universities Act, the law lays down no rules empowering the government to regulate or monitor the private universities thus created after these are enacted.

Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh, while flagging the issue of quality education missing at the private universities, said there was no control on the number of seats, fee, the courses being run and conduct of examinations. “The regulatory body should not be a toothless body but should have powers to act upon various violations,” he added.

Adampur MLA Sukhwinder Singh Kotli said adequate reservation should be there for the SC and BC students at the private universities and these students should not face harassment while taking admissions and pursuing their studies under the SC scholarships schemes.

Contradicting the claims of the Education Minister Harjot Bains of SC students benefiting from the SC scholarship scheme, Kotli said many SC students had to leave their education midway due to fee harassment by private educational institutions.

Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary expressed deep concern over certain private universities and colleges allegedly withholding students’ certificates for delays in the disbursal of government scholarships. Terming the act as blackmail, he urged the government to enact strict laws to prevent such exploitation, particularly of students from the underprivileged backgrounds.

Independent MLA Rana Inder Pratap Singh strongly advocated regulatory body, saying the state government was shying away from the responsibility of imparting education. He said private universities were growing at the cost of government universities. “First immigration agents looted people, then property dealers, and now private universities were looting people,” he claimed.

‘Quality education missing’

“There is no control on the number of seats, fee, courses being run and conduct of exams. The regulatory body should not be a toothless body, but should have powers to act upon various violations.”- Rana Gurjeet Singh, Kapurthala MLA

 Other bills passed

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2025

The bill paves way for bullock-cart racing in all rural games held across the state. The bullock-cart racing in all rural sport events, including the “Rural Olympics” or Kila Raipur games, was banned in 2014 by the Supreme Court. In 2019, after the ban on these races was lifted, The Punjab Assembly passed a Bill to allow the sport at Kila Raipur.

Now, in order to regulate the animal sports events in the state, the new legislation has been passed. The main objectives of these rules are safety measures for animals taking part in sports with adequate animal veterinary supervision, safety standards, registration/documentation and penalty for violations, for all rural sports events.

The House also passed the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Punjab Labour Welfare Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2025