Private Universities: Kbs Sidhu Urges Punjab To Verify Every Return Before The Chief Secretary Submits A Sworn Affidavit To The Supreme Court
Sep22,2026
| Jagrati Lahar Bureau | Chandigarh
Former Special Chief Secretary writes to Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha, proposing
a verification cell and a 10 October deadline for university returns
Chandigarh, 22 September 2026: Taking cue from the Supreme Court’s directive of 17
September 2026 on private universities, KBS Sidhu, former Special Chief Secretary,
Government of Punjab, has pointed out that Punjab’s Chief Secretary must, by about 29
October 2026, personally submit to the Apex Court a sworn affidavit on the accounts, fees,
land concessions and teaching records of every private university in the State. The State
cannot merely forward what the universities choose to report, and he has urged the
Government to set up a verification cell at once.
A bench of Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice N.V. Anjaria, hearing Ayesha Jain
v. Amity University, Noida (W.P. (C) No. 531 of 2025), held that no private university shall
be allowed to run as a profit-making institution. The Court allowed a cushion for smooth
functioning and fair pay to teaching and non-teaching staff, and barred any diversion
beyond that, naming salaries to members of governing boards and facilities provided to
them.
Every State’s affidavit, personally affirmed by its Chief Secretary, must cover five years of
each private university’s audited accounts; payments to persons not engaged in education;
fees and levies collected under any name; the handling and investment of surpluses;
control of admissions, examinations and funds; staff recruitment and pay, and the classes
allotted to and actually taken by each teacher since January 2025; three years of grievance
data; attached hospitals; and every land allotment, relaxation of law or other privilege
received from Government.
The Court made clear that no State may defend itself by filing only what the universities
sent, since the State has powers, coercive ones included, to obtain the rest. Punjab was
represented through its Advocate General and escaped the Rs 5 lakh fine imposed on each
unrepresented respondent. The matter returns on 19 November 2026.
In a D.O. letter to Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha dated 21 September, KBS Sidhu proposed
two steps. The first is a verification cell under the Administrative Secretary, Higher
Education and Languages, with officers from Finance (for accounts, surpluses and
payments to board members and related parties), from Revenue and Housing and Urban
Development (for land allotment, acquisition and change-of-land-use files), and from
Medical Education and Research (for universities running medical, dental or nursing
colleges). The second is a uniform proforma, issued to every private university this week
PRESS NOTEKBS Sidhu · The KBS Chronicle
Chandigarh · kbs.sidhu@gmail.com · 7837-001-001Page 2 of
under the powers each university’s own Act reserves to the Government, with returns due
by around 10 October 2026.
KBS Sidhu, who served at different times in his 37-year career in the Punjab-cadre IAS
as Administrative Secretary of Higher Education, of Technical Education and of Medical
Education, said: “An affidavit sworn personally by the Chief Secretary cannot rest on
returns the universities have certified themselves. The State already holds the land files,
the change-of-land-use files and the fee records. Every return should be tested against
them before a word of it goes into the affidavit.”
KBS Sidhu noted that the principle is not new. The Supreme Court held in T.M.A. Pai
Foundation (2002) that education is charitable in character, and in Islamic Academy of
Education (2003) that any surplus must be spent on the institution alone. The new
requirement is the Chief Secretary’s personal affidavit.
“The Supreme Court has allowed a cushion, not a mattress,” KBS Sidhu said. “A surplus
that stays in the university and is spent on education is lawful. Money that leaves for the
founders’ families is not, and the Chief Secretary will now have to vouch for the
difference on oath.”
KBS Sidhu has set out the order, its background and the case law in his article in The KBS
Chronicle, “Private Universities Fees: A Cushion, Not a Mattress”
(https://kbssidhu.substack.com/p/private-universities-fees-a-cushion).
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