The Supreme Court on Friday considered caste discrimination in colleges as a sensitive issue and said it will develop an effective mechanism to deal with this discrimination in educational institutions. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to draft a regulation to ensure that there is no caste-based discrimination in central, state, private and deemed universities and inform all. The court also asked the UGC why no action was taken on this issue in the last five years?
The bench asked the UGC to furnish data about institutions that have set up equal opportunities cells under the UGC (Promotion of Equality in Higher Educational Institutions Rules) 2012. This is called “UGC Parity Regulation”.
On the issue of caste discrimination, the court said, “We are fully conscious of this sensitive issue. We will not sit silent. “We have to find some effective mechanisms and measures so that the 2012 rules can actually be implemented.” The court sought a response from the Center on the issue and asked the UGC to submit data of complaints of caste discrimination in all universities and higher education institutions within six weeks.
Earlier, senior advocate Indira Jaising told the court that students like Rohit Vemula and Payal Tadvi, who committed suicide after facing caste-based discrimination, appeared on behalf of their mothers. He said that since 2004, more than 50 students, mostly from the SC/ST community, have committed suicide after facing such discrimination.
The bench said that a PIL was filed on this issue in 2019, but till now no concrete action has been taken on it. Justice Surya Kant said, “From now on, we will list this petition from time to time so that an effective solution to this matter can be found, because till now nothing much has happened.”
The UGC counsel said the commission has drafted new rules to prevent caste-based discrimination and will notify it in a month after taking objections and suggestions from the public. However, the court took strong objection to the delay by the UGC and asked, “Were you sleeping for so long? You should do this within a month and enter it in the records.”
The bench directed to re-list the case after six weeks and also sought assistance from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, as well as response from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
