SC allows UGC to notify draft regulations on ragging, sexual harassment, discrimination-OxBig News Network

The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted the University Grants Commission (UGC) to notify the draft regulations 2025 to deal with ragging, sexual harassment and discrimination on the basis of caste, gender, disability, among other biases in institutions of higher learning.

A Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh took note of a March 24 verdict, which considered the cases of suicides among students and constituted a national task force (NTF) to address the mental health concerns of students to prevent such incidents.

“In light of this, we deem it appropriate to clarify that UGC may proceed with the finalisation of the draft regulations 2025 and may notify the same,” it said.

The regulations as held by this court on March 24 in the case of Amit Kumar operate in addition to the NTF’s recommendations, it said while hearing a PIL by Radhika Vemula and Abeda Salim Tadvi, mothers of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi, who died by suicide in 2016 due to alleged caste discrimination.

As Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said a meeting was underway to finalise the draft regulations, the Bench allowed UGC — which regulates higher education in India — to notify draft regulations to ensure no caste-based discrimination happened in the central, state, private and deemed universities.

The PIL seeking strict compliance of the 2012 UGC regulations was filed in 2019 but no substantial hearing had taken place. The petitioners alleged that since 2004 over 50 students — mostly from SC/ST communities — ended their lives in IITs and other institutions following alleged discrimination.