The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill 2025 proposes the formal repeal of the All India Council for Technical Education Act of 1987, aiming to eliminate decades of administrative ambiguity in pharmacy education. Although the Supreme Court settled the long-standing conflict between the Pharmacy Council of India and AICTE in 2020 by granting functional control to the Pharmacy Council, the 1987 Act remained in force, creating a lingering layer of regulatory complexity.
By striking down the law, the Bill provides a definitive resolution to a system that once required pharmacy colleges to navigate overlapping mandates.
The repeal is expected to have a transformative impact on pharmacy education. Replacing the AICTE with the VBSA’s streamlined common regulator simplifies governance and reduces administrative burdens for institutions, allowing colleges to focus entirely on academic and clinical excellence. The legislation moves the pharmacy profession from an isolated regulatory framework into a national, interdisciplinary education ecosystem. While the Pharmacy Council of India retains its statutory authority under the Pharmacy Act of 1948, the Bill establishes formal collaborative mechanisms that align pharmacy education with India’s global healthcare and academic objectives.
A key feature of the modernization is the hybrid governance model for multidisciplinary universities. Under the VBSA framework, overarching administrative, financial, and transparency standards are managed by three national councils—Regulatory, Accreditation, and Standards—while professional pharmacy programs remain under the clinical jurisdiction of the Pharmacy Council of India. This ensures that the specialized clinical rigor of pharmacy education is maintained even as institutions expand into large research hubs.
The Bill also positions the pharmacy profession within national strategic planning. The apex Commission created under the legislation is empowered to invite Pharmacy Council nominees as special participants when deliberating on pharmacy-specific matters, allowing domain expertise to influence national education and research priorities. The legislation further promotes inter-professional collaboration by requiring national councils to include experts from medical, legal, and other relevant fields, enabling pharmacy educators to contribute to a more integrated health sciences curriculum aligned with the National Education Policy 2020.
Transparency and public accountability are strengthened through mandatory self-disclosure requirements. Institutions offering pharmacy programs must report finances, audits, and educational outcomes on a centralized public platform.
By modernizing the regulatory framework while preserving clinical excellence, the VBSA Bill 2025 positions the Pharmacy Council of India as a specialized guardian of quality and establishes pharmacy education as a cornerstone of the Viksit Bharat vision.
