BHUBANESWAR: Only two of the 18 public universities in the state have a mechanism for redressal of students’ grievances. Only Sambalpur and Gangadhar Meher universities have an active link on their websites where a student can submit a complaint and track its redressal. In April this year, the University Grants Commission (UGC) notified a new set of regulations for the redressal of students’ grievances under UGC (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations 2023. It is applicable to all higher education institutions recognised by it.
For the convenience of students, each institution was asked to set up a portal or integrate a link to the student grievance redressal committee (SGRCs) in their websites by July 11 where any student can submit and track a grievance application seeking redressal. The constitution, existence and functioning of the SGRCs and the names of the committee members should be put up on an institution’s website, prospectus and notice board.
Students’ complaints could include irregularities in admission, demands of bribe for admission, violation of reservation policy, non-payment or delay in payment of scholarships, delay in the conduct of examinations, or declaration of results, unfair practices for evaluation of results, complaints of caste discrimination and any type of harassment.
However, 16 of the state-run universities have not adhered to the UGC mandate till now despite the fact that UGC has threatened punishment including cancellation of the recognition of the institution in case of non-compliance of the regulations. While some do not yet have an active link to the SGRCs on their websites, a few others have only put up the names of the committee members.
On the websites of Utkal University and Vikram Deb University, there are links to SGRCs but there is no content available under the links. Further, only on the websites of five other universities including Fakir Mohan, Berhampur, Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo, the names of GRC members are available.
Sources said the Higher Education department has not yet directed any of the universities in this regard. While higher authorities of the department said they are looking into the issue, stakeholders said such committees are important because students need to know who they should contact when in trouble. “The universities should constitute the grievance redressal committee to help students. The lack of such cells results in harassment and wastage of valuable time of the students who have to go from officer to officer to get their issues resolved,” said Kshitish Das, a parent.