30.1 Bare Act Analysis
1[27. Power to delegate.— (1) The Commission may, 2[by regulations made, by notification in the Official Gazette,] under this Act, delegate to its Chairman, Vice-Chairman or any of its officers, its power of general superintendence and direction over the business transacted by, or in, the Commission, including the powers with regard to the expenditure incurred in connection with the maintenance of the office and internal administration of the Commission.
(2) No regulation shall be made under this section except with the previous approval of the Central Government.]
Footnote from Bare Act
1. Ins. by Act 33 of 1972, s. 8 (w.e.f. 17-6-1972).
2. Subs. by Act 59 of 1984, s. 7, for “by regulation made” (w.e.f. 1-10-1984).
30.2 Explanation
Section 27 providing for delegation of power to the authority. As per Section 27 of the Act, by enacting regulations, the Commission can delegate to its Chairman, Vice-Chairman or any of its officers, its power of general superintendence and direction over the business transacted by, or in, the Commission, including the powers with regard to the expenditure incurred in connection with the maintenance of the office and internal administration of the Commission.[1] Section 27 of the UGC Act, 1956, provides the Commission with the power of Delegated Authority. It allows the collective body the UGC members, to hand over specific administrative and financial powers to individual high-ranking officials like the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, or other senior officers.
Sub-section (1) provides for the scope of delegation. This clause permits the Commission to delegate its powers regarding general superintendence and direction over the daily business of the office. This specifically includes the authority to manage internal administration and incur expenditure for maintaining the UGC office. The goal is to ensure that the Commission does not have to meet as a full body to approve minor administrative or office-related expenses. Delegation cannot be done through a simple internal memo. It must be done through Regulations notified in the Official Gazette. Sub-section (2) provides for the Government veto. Similar to other regulation-making powers, the Commission cannot delegate its authority without the previous approval of the Central Government.
30.3 Critical Analysis
Procedural Delay: The Delegation of Power is intended to reduce delay, but the legal requirements under Section 27 often create a new set of bottlenecks. As delegation requires a formal regulation notified in the Official Gazette, the UGC cannot quickly empower an officer to handle a new type of administrative crisis. The process of drafting the regulation, getting previous approval from the Ministry, and waiting for the Gazette printing can take months. Sub-section (2) forces a specialized academic body to seek permission from a generalist Ministry to decide how its own internal office expenditure should be managed. This inter-departmental back-and-forth often leads to situations where administrative decisions are stalled because the Delegation Regulation has not yet been cleared by the government.
Constitutional Validity and Ultra Vires: Section 27 must be interpreted strictly to avoid the Abdication of Duty. This legal principle means a delegate cannot further delegate. If the Commission, which is a delegate of Parliament, hands over its core statutory functions, like the power to grant or withhold recognition to a university, to an individual officer under the guise of general superintendence, such a regulation would be ultra vires. The courts generally distinguish between Administrative Power which can be delegated, and Quasi-Judicial Power. If a Section 27 regulation allows a single officer to penalize a university under Section 14, it would likely be struck down as constitutionally invalid for violating the collective deliberative nature of the Commission. If the delegation isn’t done specifically via the Notification in the Official Gazette as required by the 1984 amendment, any action taken by the Chairman or Secretary can be declared legally null and void.[2]
Room for Misinterpretation: The phrasing of Section 27 is broad enough to allow for Executive Overreach within the Commission. This phrase is not defined. Does it include the power to appoint temporary committees? Or the power to issue guidelines that have the effect of regulations? If interpreted too broadly, the Chairman could effectively become a one-man Commission, rendering the other members appointed by the government irrelevant. There is often misinterpretation regarding whether this refers only to Office Maintenance or Programmatic Expenditure. If an officer is delegated the power to disburse crores in grants under the heading of internal administration, it bypasses the collective scrutiny intended by the Act.
Colonial Era Policy and Irrelevance: Section 27 reflects the Bureaucratic Centralization model of the British Raj. In colonial administration, the Head of the Department held absolute power, and the Board was often a decorative entity. Section 27 facilitates this by allowing the collective Commission to be bypassed by a single Chairman or Vice-Chairman. Modern statutory bodies, like the Competition Commission of India, use Automated Workflow Systems where delegation is built into the software based on the value of the transaction. The 1956 requirement to notify a Regulation in the Gazette for internal delegation is an archaic, paper-based policy that is irrelevant in a real-time, digital administrative environment. The requirement for previous approval of the Government for internal office delegation is a colonial-era tool of control. It ensures the Government can block the Commission from empowering efficient officers, keeping the UGC dependent on the Ministry for even minor internal administrative shifts.
[1] Roopakala Prasad vs The University Grants Commission Kerala High Court WP(C).No. 22187 of 2012 (W)
[2] UGC v. Sadhana Chaudhary [996 INSC 1061]
