New Delhi, June 24: India’s higher education regulators have accused the Yash Pal panel on reforms of exceeding its terms of reference in recommending their termination as independent entities.

Facing the prospect of an end to their rule over higher education since Independence, the regulators have questioned the authority of the Yash Pal panel in proposing that they be replaced by a unified regulator.

“The University Grants Commission and other regulators like the Medical Council of India have complained that we have exceeded our terms of reference in our report,” Yash Pal, a former chairman of the UGC, told The Telegraph.

“But I believe we have done exactly what was required. Nothing more and nothing less,” the academic said.

Yash Pal today submitted his panel’s final report to HRD minister Kapil Sibal, who said his ministry would add the committee’s recommendations to its 100-day blueprint of action. Sibal is scheduled to unveil his 100-day plan of action tomorrow.

The committee in its report has concurred with the National Knowledge Commission in proposing a single regulator for governing all streams of higher education.

While the UGC regulates universities, the All India Council for Technical Education manages technical education, the Medical Council of India governs medical courses and the Dental Council of India controls dentistry. The Nursing Council of India is in charge of nursing and the Pharmacy Council of India regulates pharmacy courses.

The Yash Pal panel has suggested that these multiple regulators either be “subsumed” into a national commission for higher education and research or be replaced by the new commission.

The regulators have now questioned the legitimacy of the Yash Pal panel in laying out a blueprint for the future of higher education, including their dissolution, in complaints to the HRD ministry.

The panel was originally formed to “review the UGC and the AICTE”. But later its name and brief were changed to advising on “renovation and rejuvenation of higher education”.

The change subtly reduced the powers of the panel from a role of recommendation to an advisory role but the new name suggested that the committee now had the chance to draft a blueprint of action.

But, Yash Pal admitted, the terms of reference of the committee were not changed with the name.

“At the time (when the name was changed), I was advised by some well-wishers to push for an appropriate change in terms of reference. But I was assured by the HRD ministry that a change in terms of reference will not be necessary,” Yash Pal said.

A UGC official argued that while the terms of reference allow the Yash Pal panel to point out lacunae in the working of the UGC and the AICTE, it cannot recommend a roadmap for them.