Mumbai: The Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Department has constituted a 12-member expert committee to review and recommend operational guidelines for student council elections across state universities and affiliated colleges, with a focus on ensuring a peaceful, transparent and student-centric campus environment.
The committee has been tasked with examining the existing framework and recommending measures to eliminate external political interference and prevent the commercialisation of student elections. It will also suggest measures to ensure adequate representation of women and students from reserved categories, besides encouraging participation from the National Service Scheme (NSS), National Cadet Corps (NCC), sports and cultural departments.
Committee to review election framework
The move follows a proposal from the Director of Higher Education, Pune, who had highlighted implementation-related difficulties under the Uniform Statutes framed in 2018 under the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016.
The government has asked the committee to conduct a detailed review of the existing legal and regulatory framework and submit its final report, along with policy recommendations, within one month.
Former Mumbai University Vice-Chancellor Dr Suhas Pednekar will chair the committee, while Mumbai University Registrar Dr Prasad Karande will serve as the member-secretary. The panel includes former SRTMU Nanded Vice-Chancellor Dr Pandit Vidyasagar, former SPPU Pro-Vice-Chancellor Dr N.S. Umrani, Mumbai University Pro-Vice-Chancellor Dr Ajay Bhamare, SPPU Dean Dr Prabhakar Desai and BAMU Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Registrar Dr Prashant Amrutkar. It also includes representatives from colleges in Pune and legal expert Dr Pravin Sayyad, a retired senior law officer of SPPU.
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Digital systems and accountability
The committee will examine the feasibility of introducing digital and online systems for nominations, scrutiny, voting and grievance redressal. It will also recommend measures to improve financial accountability by standardising rules governing student council budgets, expenditure and mandatory audits.
The panel will further work on orientation and training programmes for newly elected student representatives to familiarise them with administrative leadership and institutional procedures.
The committee's meetings will be coordinated by Mumbai University and may be conducted in hybrid mode.
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