Mumbai: On Thursday, the supreme court ordered a stay on the ‘promotion of equity in higher educational institutes (HEI)’ 2026 notification released on January 13 to deal with caste-discrimination, as two writ petitions were filed following an uproar from the student-led organisations, tagging the rules as discriminatory. The matter is set to be heard on March 19.
What Regulation Mandated
The regulation mandated all the higher educational institutes to set up equal opportunity centers and an equity panel in the college’s campus. It specified that the panels shall consist of representatives of the scheduled tribe (ST), scheduled caste (SC), other backward classes (OBC), women and people with disabilities (PwD). However, the student organisations raised an objection over the lack of representation of the general category students in the panel.
Key Legal Challenge
The regulations have been challenged for excluding ‘general category’ students from complaining under its grievance redressal mechanism.
Court’s Prima Facie View
The implementation of the regulation was stayed by the bench composed of chief justice of India Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi. As per reports, prima facie the court said, “ the language of the regulation is vague and experts need to look into for the language to be modulated so that it is not exploited”. Adding that there will be dangerous consequences and it will lead to divisions in the society, if the court does not intervene.
Objective of Regulation
It was discussed in the court that the objective of the regulation is to eradicate discrimination only on the basis of religion, race, gender, place of birth, caste or disability, particularly against the members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, socially and educationally backward classes, economically weaker sections, persons with disabilities, or any of them, and to promote full equity and inclusion amongst the stakeholders in higher education institutions.
CJI Raises Concerns
“Suppose a student from south gets admission in North or student from North takes admission in south. Some kind of sarcastic remark which is humiliating against him and if the caste of both parties are not known, which provision covers it,” CJI Kant said.
Also Watch:
Student Groups React
While the regulation continues to spark debate.”The regulations does not have a provision to safeguard the accused or take action against false or malicious complaints. If a student of open category complaints then the case will be taken up by a panel which does not have a representation from their category. How is that fair to us,” said a Mumbai representative member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
Support from Progressive Groups
Another member of the progressive students forum Mumbai, welcomed the regulation. “The regulations should be taken in the spirit of its context. The caste-based discrimination in educational institutes is rampant and statistics also prove this point. The regulation should only be for minority students as other students have different grievance redressal platforms such as Internal complaints committee, anti-ragging cell, students grievance redressal cell and more. There should be provisions only for the minorities.”
To get details on exclusive and budget-friendly property deals in Mumbai & surrounding regions, do visit: https://budgetproperties.in/
