NEW DELHI: With the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry receiving many complaints alleging irregularities and highhandedness, the Centre has asked universities to appoint ombudsman for redressal.
A senior HRD ministry official said it is concerned over high number of complaints it has been receiving, especially to the office of Union HRD Minister, Prakash Javadekar.
“We need to fix responsibility on ombudsman to address students’ issues. Someone has to be held responsible. We faced that problem earlier,” an official said indicating the controversy around Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s death. Interestingly, the University Grants Commission (UGC)’s student grievance redressal portal since its launch in March 2015, has been able to dispose of only one third of the complaints.
Ombudsman at the university would be an appropriate redressal forum for students, parents and others to appeal for complaints and grievances, an official pointed out.
Prakash Javadekar’s predecessor Smriti Irani too had pushed for appointing an ombudsman but it did not materialise.