Tamil Nadu Private Universities Amendment Bill 2026 Sparks Row Over Land, Fees

The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly passed the Tamil Nadu Private Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2026, on September 8, the final day of the Budget session, after Higher Education Minister P. Viswanathan introduced it. The legislation substantially relaxes the statutory conditions for establishing private universities in the State, and has since drawn opposition from political parties, academics and student organisations. Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has now sought clarifications from the State government on the Bill's provisions.

What the amendments change

Under the Tamil Nadu Private Universities Act, 2019, enacted during the previous AIADMK regime, a sponsoring body needed at least 100 acres of contiguous land to set up a private university, and had to create a permanent endowment fund of ₹50 crore to meet administrative costs during dissolution.

The amended Bill replaces the single land threshold with a three-tier structure. Institutions within the Greater Chennai Corporation limits need a minimum of 12 acres of contiguous land; those in other municipal corporations and municipal councils need 18 acres; and institutions elsewhere in the State need 25 acres. The permanent endowment fund requirement has been halved to ₹25 crore.

The changes will apply to all private universities established under the 2019 Act, as well as to Shiv Nadar University and Sai University, which were created through special legislations in 2018, before the parent Act came into force.

Government's rationale

The Statement of Objects and Reasons cites recommendations from a Task Force on Compliance Reduction and Deregulation constituted by the Union government, which listed five focus areas for education and suggested removing minimum land and endowment requirements for higher educational institutions.

Higher Education Department officials say the revised figures followed an examination of land-use patterns at existing private institutions and the availability of contiguous parcels across the State. They note that large contiguous tracts were available mainly away from cities and towns, and that even 100 acres was hard to assemble in many rural areas. Institutions were therefore forced to locate far from urban centres, making it difficult to attract good faculty and imposing long commutes on students. Officials also found that institutions holding 100 acres rarely developed the entire area for student facilities, and that academic blocks, administrative buildings and hostels can be housed in vertical structures, freeing space for playgrounds. The endowment figure, they say, was arrived at after studying practices in other States.

Opposition and concerns

The CPI, which extends outside support to the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam-led coalition government, and the PMK opposed the Bill in the House. The CPI argues the move will commercialise education and conflict with the social justice principles followed by successive State governments. The PMK shares the commercialisation concern and warns that lower land requirements could lead to inadequate infrastructure. The Higher Education Minister defended the legislation, saying it would attract world-class institutions to Tamil Nadu.

DMK members were absent when the Bill was passed, having been evicted earlier in the day, and CPI(M) members were also not present.

Academics fear the amendments could allow existing self-financing colleges to establish private universities or affiliate themselves with such universities. Department officials reject this, stating that attempts to convert self-financing colleges affiliated to State universities into private universities or their affiliates will not be permitted, as the new entities are Greenfield universities rather than Brownfield ones. Last year, the then DMK government had sought to amend the 2019 Act to permit the conversion of existing self-financing or government-aided institutions into Brownfield universities, but withdrew the Bill after resistance from opposition parties, teachers' associations, student bodies and the public. The current legislation takes a different approach, offering relaxations only for Greenfield universities.

The Shiv Nadar University experience

Concerns persist, partly because of developments involving SSN College of Engineering. The college secured progressive disaffiliation from Anna University in September 2025, stopped admitting students through Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions counselling from the 2026-27 academic year, and is in the process of merging with Shiv Nadar University. Admissions for the new entity will be handled by the private university. Before disaffiliation, the college was required to charge tuition fees fixed by the Fee Fixation Committee under State norms. According to Shiv Nadar University's website, fees for undergraduate degrees at the new SSN School of Engineering are six times higher than what students previously paid.

Student bodies affiliated to Left parties have launched protests across Tamil Nadu, arguing that reducing the land requirement will accelerate privatisation, encourage profit-driven entities to charge higher fees, and widen the socio-economic gap by benefiting wealthier students at the expense of poorer ones.

The government maintains that the changes are intended to let multidisciplinary universities grow in the State while retaining a measure of regulatory control over them.