Students Grievance Regulations 2023 provides redressal against caste-based discrimination: UGC Chairman

New Delhi [India], April 14 : University Grant Commission Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar on Friday said that the Students' Grievance Regulations 2023 provides an additional forum for the redressal of complaints against caste-based discrimination.

These regulations do not replace other regulations/guidelines made/issued by the UGC from time to time to ensure that no student is discriminated against on the basis of caste, creed, religion, language, ethnicity, gender or disabilities.

Speaking to , UGC Chairman M Jagadesh said, "University Grants Commission (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2023 replaces Regulations of 2019 on the subject. The Regulations have been revised in the light of the National Education Policy 2020."

"The Regulations of 2019 also provided that grievances related to the complaints of alleged discrimination of students from the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Women, Minorities or persons with disabilities categories will be entrained by the grievance committees and ombudspersons. This provision has been retained in the Regulations of 2023," he added.

M Jagadesh Kumar further said that the scheme of Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC) for Universities and Colleges was started in 2012 and is still in operation, and a total of 1818 EOCs have been established in the Universities and Colleges.

The UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012 provides for the appointment of an Anti-Discrimination Officer, and other measures to eliminate any kind of discrimination and to ensure equity amongst students, he said.

"The UGC has issued instructions to the universities from time to time for the prevention of caste-based discrimination in higher education. The HEIs are also required to report to the UGC on the activity monitoring portal regarding action taken by them to prevent any caste-based discrimination" he added.

The UGC Chairman also said that the Student Grievance Redressal Regulations 2023 have been made inclusive by providing representation to women/SC/ST/OBC on the grievance committees, which was not provided in the previous Regulations.

Meanwhile, University Grant Commission (UGC) Secretary has written a letter to the Vice Chancellors of the University and Principals of Colleges and requested to take necessary measures to give wide publicity to the Regulations amongst the stakeholders and in particular the students' community about the Redressal of Grievances of Students Regulations, 2023.

As per UGC, "The new Regulations provide for the establishment of Students Grievances Redressal Committee(s) (SGRC) by all the Higher Education institutions (HEIs) and for the appointment of Ombudsperson (s) at the University level".

UGC has asked the higher education institutions to comply with the provisions of the Regulations and constitutes the SGRC, preferably within 30 days of the notification of the Regulations.

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