CHENNAI: Amid strong opposition from various stakeholders, including political leaders, the Tamil Nadu government has officially withdrawn the private universities bill in the State Assembly on Friday.

strictly opposed the bill and urged the state government to immediately withdraw it.

After criticism, the State Higher Education Department minister Govi Chezhian issued a statement that based on the views expressed by several members of the Legislative Assembly, as well as comments received through social media and public forums, the Chief Minister has directed that the opinions of academics, domain experts, and officials from the Higher Education Department be sought, and appropriate action be taken based on their inputs.

It may be noted that the amendment bill was brought forward to simplify certain procedures for private institutions seeking to attain the status of private universities and for those intending to start new private universities.

Accordingly, the present and existing bill mandates a minimum requirement of contiguous land area of 100 acres to establish a private university.

However, the revised bill has proposed to shrink the requirement of land for Brownfield Universities, in municipal corporation regions, in town panchayat areas by more than 50% from the existing norms.