The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) has recommended creation of a special agency to look after professional education, taking away powers of the existing regulatory bodies. Whether this also means these bodies should be taken out of the HRD ministry’s purview is not spelt out.
“After this, the work of the existing regulatory bodies would remain confined to issues concerning registration, skill upgrade and management of professional standards,” the ARC suggests. It has also recommended that once the new agencies take charge, the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) should be abolished.
The new councils, according to Moily, should be formed by an Act of Parliament and would be responsible for laying down parameters on issues concerning growth and development of their streams.
“They should take care of setting up new institutions, designing and updating curriculum, faculty improvement, carrying out research and other key issues concerning the stream,” said the report.
According to Moily, these agencies can be called the National Standards and Quality Council for medicine or management, as the case may be.
The Moily committee has also suggested full autonomy for these agencies where independent members should be in majority. It wants the councils to be accountable to Parliament and have a body of experts to advise the agencies.
In its report on ‘Social Capital’, related to institutions like trusts, self-help groups and co-operatives, Moily has also recommended a new law to make a three-member Charities Commission at the state level to regulate charitable institutions. Charitable organisations having an annual income of over Rs 10 lakh will have more stringent requirements with respect to submission of returns, annual reports and other necessary permissions.
The committee has also suggested that when a company takes up any project under Corporate Social Responsibility, it must be implemented in consultation with the local government to avoid overlap of similar development projects taken up by that government.
