To prevent student suicides in higher educational institutions across the country, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the UGC to consider — within two months — while making the draft mechanism to effectively combat ragging, sexual harassment, and discrimination on the basis of caste, gender, disability, among other biases.
The top court's two-judge bench, headed by Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, was hearing a batch of PILs filed by the mothers of Rohit Vemula and Payal Tadvi — Radhika Vemula and A Salim Tadvi — assailing caste discrimination in higher educational institutions.
The apex court on Monday asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to consider the suggestions and views of the mothers of students Vemula and Tadvi, who allegedly died by suicide after facing caste-based discrimination in their respective campuses.
It is to be noted that Vemula, a PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University, died on January 17, 2016, while Tadvi, a student at TN Topiwala National Medical College, died on May 22, 2019, after she was subjected to purported discrimination by three doctors in her college.
During the hearing on Monday, the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, clarified to the bench that the draft regulations were published and an expert committee examined over 300 objections that were received.
Mehta's submissions were recorded by the bench, as the law officer contended that a lot of effective mechanisms to combat ragging and other issues like caste biases were demarcated.
"These include prohibition of discriminatory practices, non-segregation measures like higher educational institutions being prohibited from allocating hostels, classrooms, or practical/laboratory batches based on entrance rank or academic performance, and prohibition of public display of merit lists or rank-based segregation within the campus, and disallowing rank-based buddy systems for academic support, which often exclude students from marginalised backgrounds," he added.
Earlier in April, the top court had allowed the UGC to notify the draft regulations 2025, which deal with ragging, sexual harassment, and discrimination on the basis of caste, gender, disability, among other biases in institutions of higher learning.
In the PIL challenging caste discrimination in higher educational institutions, the top court had earlier asked UGC to submit data on how many Central, state, deemed, and private universities and higher educational institutions have set up Equal Opportunity Cells and the total number of complaints received under the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, along with action taken reports.
The petitioners had approached the apex court seeking to put a stop to caste-based discrimination in universities and higher educational institutions.
The plea filed by the mothers of Vemula and Tadvi sought appropriate directions from the top court to take effective steps to end caste-based discrimination in varsities and higher learning institutions.
The petition also sought directions to all universities and higher educational institutions to upload on their websites all measures for elimination of caste-based discrimination and procedure.
The petition claimed that there have been several incidents of caste-based discrimination. It also stated in their plea that appropriate orders and directions be passed immediately to put a stop to caste-based discrimination in universities and higher learning institutions.