Rajya Sabha (RS) passed a Bill on Tuesday to declare the five newly established Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) as institutions of national importance.
The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on March 20, 2020, and was introduced in the RS by Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.
“The Bill will declare 5 IIITs in Public-Private Partnership mode at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala & Raichur as Institutions of National Importance by granting them statutory status along with the already existing 15 IIITs under the IIIT(PPP) Act, 2017,” Pokhriyal said in a tweet.
“IIIT Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 will entitle the institutions to use the nomenclature of Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) or Master of Technology (M.Tech) or PhD degree as issued by a University or Institution of National Importance,” he added.
These IIITs, at present, are functioning as Societies registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. They will now be covered under the IIIT (PPP) Act, 2017, similar to the other 15 IIITs established under the scheme in PPP mode.
Rashtriya Raksha University Bill also passed
The Upper House also passed the Rashtriya Raksha University Bill 2020 on the same day, which seeks to establish Rashtriya Raksha University as an institution of national importance by upgrading Raksha Shakti University, Gandhinagar.
The Rashtriya Raksha University is proposed to be a multi-disciplinary university and will create new knowledge through research and collaboration with different stakeholders in various wings of policing, the criminal justice system and correctional administration.
The university will have linkage with world-class universities in other countries for exchange of contemporary research, academic collaboration, course design, technical know-how, training and skill development.
