Cabinet clears private Bhujbal Skill Tech University on government land in Nashik
Last week, the Maharashtra State Cabinet and the State Legislature cleared a proposal to establish the private Bhujbal Skill Tech University on government-owned land in Nashik. The decision marks the first time a private skill university has been permitted to set up on government land, drawing internal scrutiny from the State Skill Development Department over potential conflicts with existing regulations.
The university is being established by the Mumbai Educational Trust (MET), an organization run by the family of Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal. While MET has operated an educational institute on this specific government-owned plot for two decades, the proposed skill university is a new institution governed by a different set of regulations.
According to sources within the State Skill Development Department, the Private Skills University Act 2024 mandates that self-financed universities must be situated on either private land or leased land with a registered lease tenure of 30 or more years. The department flagged the Nashik project as the first case of a private skill university on government land, noting that utilizing historically granted government land acts as an indirect state subsidy and creates an uneven playing field.
Despite these concerns, the department stated that MET had satisfied the primary legal requirement of holding a valid title or long-term lease. However, the department emphasized the need for a clear future policy to handle similar cases without requiring legislative amendments to the existing private skill university rules.
The proposed university will feature a construction area of 11,704 square meters. According to the project report, the institution will focus on advanced technology fields, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, electric advancements, vehicles, machines, and battery technology.
Madan Kharat, who handled the permissions for MET, stated that the government had requested and received all necessary land-related documents. He confirmed the documents show the land is in MET's possession for educational purposes and that no other issues were communicated by the government.
