Section 3B of the Central Universities Act, 2009: Special Provision for Bihar
Section 3B of the Central Universities Act, 2009 contains the special statutory arrangement for Central Universities in Bihar. It renames the existing Central University of Bihar as the Central University of South Bihar and provides for the establishment of Mahatma Gandhi Central University, while dividing their territorial jurisdiction by reference to the River Ganges.
In brief: the Central University of South Bihar has territorial jurisdiction over the part of Bihar south of the River Ganges, while Mahatma Gandhi Central University has territorial jurisdiction over the part of Bihar north of the River Ganges, as reflected in the First Schedule to the Act.
Text and meaning of Section 3B
Section 3B(1) - Central University of South Bihar
The Central University of Bihar established under Section 3(4) is known as the Central University of South Bihar. Its territorial jurisdiction extends to the territory south of the River Ganges in the State of Bihar, as specified in the First Schedule to the Act.
Section 3B(2) - Mahatma Gandhi Central University
The provision establishes a University as a body corporate known as Mahatma Gandhi Central University. Its territorial jurisdiction extends to the territory north of the River Ganges in the State of Bihar, as specified in the First Schedule to the Act.
What Section 3B does
- It changes the statutory name of the Central University of Bihar to the Central University of South Bihar.
- It establishes the Mahatma Gandhi Central University as a separate body corporate.
- It divides the territorial jurisdiction of the two Central Universities in Bihar by reference to the River Ganges.
- It links the territorial allocation to the entries in the First Schedule to the Central Universities Act, 2009.
Legislative history of Section 3B
Section 3B was inserted by Section 2 of the Central Universities (Amendment) Act, 2014 (Act No. 35 of 2014). The amending Act received the assent of the President on December 17, 2014 and was published in the Gazette of India on December 18, 2014. The amendment also revised the First Schedule so that Bihar separately lists the Central University of South Bihar and Mahatma Gandhi Central University with their respective territorial jurisdictions.
Current legal position: Section 3B continues to form part of the Central Universities Act, 2009 in the current consolidated text published on India Code. Later amendments to the Act have inserted additional provisions, including Sections 3C to 3G, but the Bihar-specific structure in Section 3B remains part of the statute.
Related provisions
For context, read Section 2 - Definitions, Section 3 - Establishment of Universities, Section 4 - Effect of establishment of Universities, and Section 5 - Objects of University.
Official sources
The authoritative statutory text should be checked against official Government sources, particularly India Code and the Gazette text of the 2014 amending Act.
Note: This article is intended for legal information and easy reference. In case of any difference, the official Gazette and the latest consolidated statutory text published by the Government of India should prevail.