Supreme Court stays UGC's new 'equity' rules, asks Centre to redraft regulations

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the recent UGC regulations which had sparked nationwide outrage across colleges and asked the Centre to re-draft the rules.

During a hearing, the apex court observed that the language of the regulation is "vague" and called for experts to review the rules to avoid "exploitation".

It said that the unity of India must reflect across educational institutions while hearing the petition challenging the recent UGC regulations.

It said that the UGC Equity Regulations, 2026 shall remain in abeyance, adding that the 2012 UGC Regulations will continue to operate. It invoked Article 142 to ensure the existing redressal mechanism for marginalised groups is not dismantled. Article 142 empowers the Supreme Court to pass any order necessary to do “complete justice” in cases before it.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi had earlier taken note of submissions by a lawyer requesting an urgent hearing of the matter after the new University Grants Commission rules had sparked nationwide outrage.

The regulations, notified on January 13, mandate that all higher education institutions must form “equity committees” to address discrimination complaints and promote equity on campus. The committees are required to include representatives from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), persons with disabilities, and women.

These new rules replace the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, which were largely advisory.

The plea challenges the regulations on the grounds that caste-based discrimination is narrowly defined as discrimination against members of SC, ST, and OBC communities.

By restricting the scope of “caste-based discrimination” to these categories, the UGC has, according to the petition, effectively denied institutional protection and grievance redressal to individuals from the general or non-reserved categories who may face harassment or bias based on their caste identity.

Sstudent groups and organisations are demanding immediate rollback of the rules. The protesters said that the new regulations "aggravate existing differences instead of promoting sensitisation."