The Maharashtra government has directed self-financed universities in the state to reserve 40 per cent seats for students domiciled in the state, reports Hindustan Times.

The state government has also relaxed some of the norms required to be followed for starting and running self-financed universities, making it easier for private institutions to start operations.

The land requirement norms for these universities have been reduced from 50 acres to 25 acres in rural areas, 25 acres to 15 acres in district headquarters and 15 acres to 10 acres in divisional headquarters.

However, there was no change made to the 10 acres land requirement for setting up a varsity in Mumbai metropolitan region.

As per the new guidelines, the assets of a university will be transferred to its management in case of a shutdown. Earlier, the state was empowered to take over these assets.

The organisation which wants to set up a new institute will now have to pay Rs 25 lakh during application, compared to the current fee of Rs 5 lakh.

"It is an attempt to give more freedom to educational institutes. While autonomous institutes are able to design their own curriculum, self-financed universities are also able to control their finances," director of BK Birla College, Naresh Chandra was quoted as saying.

According to the report, the new rules also include provisions to bring about transparency and government oversight over the fee structure of these universities. A university-level fee regulation committee will decide on the fee structure.