Punjab to relax constructed area condition for pvt varsities; CLU waiver for Radha Soami Satsang bhawans

Chandigarh To promote higher education in the state, the Punjab cabinet on Thursday decided to reduce the requirement of constructed area from 50,000 to 30,000 square metres for multi-domain university and from 20,000 to 15,000 square metres for the one with single-domain.

It has been decided to accordingly amend the Punjab Private University Policy, 2010, an official spokesperson said after the cabinet meeting held via video conferencing. The move will encourage the establishment of more private universities in the state.

This decision was taken at the meeting, chaired by chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, in line with the recommendations of the committee, constituted under the chief secretary by the higher education department, to consider the representations received from various sponsoring bodies for relaxation/amendment in various clauses of the policy-2010 for the establishment of new private universities in the state.

The cabinet also gave the nod to amend provision 4.3(g) of the policy, making the sponsoring body eligible for setting up a private university on leased land, subject to the lease being a long-term one, for 33 years, from a government authority or gram panchayat.

The Punjab Private University Policy-2010 had no provision for taking land on lease for setting up a university, while most states have such an enabling provision of land requirement.

Under the policy, the state government has so far approved 14 universities. There is a proposal to establish four more private universities.

CLU waiver for Radha Soami Satsang bhawans

The cabinet also approved waiver of fee for Change of Land Use (CLU) and several other charges for Satsang Bhawans established, or to be established in future, by Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) across the state.

Apart from CLU, the other charges to be waived include external development charges (EDC), permission fee (PF), social infrastructure fund (SIF) and building scrutiny fee.

It may be recalled that the state government has already exempted above charges for educational, health, religious and social institutions set up by SGPC, Durgiana Mandir, Amritsar and Devi Talab Mandir, Jalandhar, by a notification in 2012.

Sub-committee to finalise modalities for PACL disinvestment

A proposal for formation of an empowered cabinet sub-committee on disinvestment of 33.49% equity shareholding of Punjab Alkalies & Chemicals Limited (PACL) was given clearance. The sub-committee will comprise cabinet ministers Brahm Mahindra, Manpreet Singh Badal and Sunder Sham Arora. This decision was in response to the proposal mooted by directorate of disinvestment and public enterprises. The other members of the committee will include principal secretary (finance), principal secretary (industries), managing directors of PSIDC and PACL, besides director public enterprises and disinvestment as its convener.

15th finance commission tied grants for rural piped water

Priority will be given to providing functional house tap connections (FHTCs) in the remaining 17.59 lakh households from the tied grants for water under the 15th Finance Commission to meet its 2022 target of 100% piped water connectivity. It was also decided to push Phase 2 of Swachh Bharat Mission (gramin), for making all villages in the state open defecation-free in next 5 years.

Co-op audit (group-b) service rules to be amended

The cabinet gave its approval to amend the Punjab Cooperative Audit (Group-B) Service Rules, 2016, by merging the post of senior assistant (accounts) with that of senior assistants, to pave the way for promotional avenues to the senior assistant (accounts) working in the audit wing of the cooperative department.