Supreme Court Allows UGC To Notify Draft Regulations On Caste Discrimination in Colleges

The Supreme Court has allowed the UGC to finalize and notify the Draft UGC Regulations, 2025, which deal with ragging, sexual harassment, and discrimination based on caste, gender, and disability in higher educational institutions.

The PIL stems from the 2016 suicide of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad Central University, allegedly due to caste-based discrimination.

The bench clarified that the regulations will supplement recommendations of the National Task Force formed in Amit Kumar v. Union of India. Senior Advocate Indira Jaising opposed merging various issues under one regulation and dilution of detailed definitions of discrimination.

However, the Court emphasized the need for immediate protection for affected students and directed petitioners to submit suggestions to the Task Force.