Chennai: To encourage more greenfield private universities in Chennai city, Tamil Nadu govt has slashed the land requirement to almost one-tenth from 100 acres to 12 acres. Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday passed the amendment bill to Tamil Nadu Private Universities Act, 2019, reducing the land requirement.“Having regard to the scarcity of land in Greater Chennai Corporation area, govt has decided to prescribe a minimum land requirement of 12 acres for the establishment of a private university. In respect of other municipal corporations and municipal councils, excluding GCC, govt has decided to prescribe a minimum land requirement of 18 acres for the establishment of private universities,” the bill said.“Finding 100 acres of contiguous land near Chennai city has become very difficult. So, the new universities can be established only in faraway locations. We have examined how many acres of land a university might need to set up academic blocks, hostels, playgrounds and labs and reduced the land requirement,” a senior official from the higher education department said.The official also clarified that the land requirement was reduced only for establishing new greenfield universities and the existing private colleges or aided colleges will not be converted into brownfield universities.For areas other than GCC, municipal corporations and municipal councils, govt has decided to fix the minimum land requirement of 25 acres. The bill also brought down the endowment fund required to establish a private university from Rs 50 crore to Rs 25 crore.“Higher education is one of the most important aspects to ensure development. We want more new universities to come up in the state,” the official added.As many as eight private universities have been established in the past seven years under the Act. The new amendment is likely to open the doors for many institutions to come up. When the bill was passed in Assembly, CPM and PMK opposed it saying it will lead to privatisation of higher education.
