The Supreme Court has currently put on hold the rules related to ‘promoting equality in higher education institutions’ issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on January 23. This step of the court has brought relief to the petitioners who had termed these rules as arbitrary, discriminatory and against the Constitution and the UGC Act, 1956. Now there is a temporary pause on the implementation of these rules and in the further hearing the court will decide whether these rules are valid or not.
Why did the Supreme Court ban?
In the petitions filed against these rules, it was said that the new system goes against the principle of equality and may exclude some sections. The petitioners also argued that the UGC does not have the authority to make such rules as they violate the provisions of the UGC Act, 1956. Hearing these arguments, the Supreme Court has currently put a stay on the implementation of the rules.
Why did UGC need to bring new guidelines?
The Constitution clearly says that no one should be discriminated against on the basis of caste, religion, sex, place of birth, race and disability. But the ground reality is that even today complaints of discrimination continue to surface in higher educational institutions. At some places there have been taunts on the basis of caste, at some places jokes on language and region, and at some places there have been allegations of bias on the basis of gender. In this background, UGC had notified “Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026” in the Gazette. Its objective was to implement a strong and uniform law against discrimination in educational institutions.
what was the arrangement before
Before the new guidelines, the system related to discrimination was divided. There were separate anti-discrimination cells for SC/ST students, separate complaint mechanisms for women, separate rules for differently-abled students, but there was no common, strict and time-bound decision-making system for the entire campus. The result was that many complaints were buried or remained pending for years.
What changes were made in the new guidelines?
Under the new guidelines of UGC, two arrangements were made mandatory in every college and university-
1. Equal Opportunity Center (EOC)
Where any student or teacher could complain that he has been discriminated against.
2. Equity Committee
Which investigates these complaints and recommends action.
Who is included in the equity committee
Under the new system, these members were appointed in the Equity Committee-
- Vice Chancellor or Principal
- SC representative
- ST representative
- OBC representative
- female member
- minority or disabled representatives
- a senior professor or expert
That means the decision was not to be taken by any one person, but by a collective committee. This entire process is directly monitored by UGC.
Committee responsibilities
The work of Equity Committee was-
- Register a complaint
- listening to both sides
- examining evidence and records
- prepare reports on time
- Recommend action if found guilty
Why did the controversy arise?
As soon as the guidelines were published in the Gazette, a big question started rising on social media – when representatives have been decided for SC, ST, OBC, women, minorities and disabled, then why is there no separate representative for the general or upper caste?
From here the debate intensified whether the general class has already been put under suspicion. Some people raised the question whether it was assumed that they would be the ones discriminating. There were trends on social media on this issue and some organizations also demonstrated outside the UGC office.
What effect would it have on the common student?
Suppose there is a normal student studying in a university in Delhi. If he gets taunted in class because of his caste, language or region, or feels biased in internal marks, earlier he would remain silent due to fear. He felt that if he complained, the teachers would get angry and his career would be affected.
In the new system he could complain directly to the Equal Opportunity Centre. His identity was to be kept confidential, the equity committee would investigate and the college administration would have to answer.
Questions raised on shortcomings of guidelines
Some serious apprehensions also came to light regarding the new guidelines. The biggest question was why the provision of punishment for those making false complaints was not clearly explained. Many people said that if someone maliciously implicates someone, there should be clear punishment for that too. Apart from this, the head of the institute and the committee were given considerable powers in the process of deciding the punishment, due to which the possibility of misuse was also raised.
Political debate going beyond education policy
For these reasons, this issue is no longer limited to education reform only. This has taken the form of politics and caste debate – “Who got representation and who did not?”
Government and UGC’s side
The government and UGC say that this law is not against any caste, but against the idea of discrimination. According to him, this rule is for everyone – SC, ST, OBC, General, Women, Men, North East, South, Disabled and Minorities. The aim is only one – to create an environment of equality and respect in the campus.
