Supreme Court Stays UGC's 2026 Anti-Discrimination Rules Amid Protests

The new UGC regulations, notified on January 23, were challenged by various petitioners as being arbitrary, exclusionary, discriminatory and in violation of the Constitution as well as the University Grants Commission Act, 1956.

The Top Court said that, for now, the 2012 UGC regulations will continue to apply. The Court opined that there is complete vagueness in Regulation 3 (C) (which defines caste-based discrimination), and it can be misused. "The language needs to be re-modified," the Court said.

The new regulations, introduced to curb caste-based discrimination in colleges and universities, require institutions to establish special committees and helplines to address complaints, especially from students belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) categories.

The new rules notified by the UGC on January 13, which update its 2012 regulations on the same subject, have sparked widespread criticism from general category students, who argue that the framework could lead to discrimination against them.

Earlier on Wednesday, students, mostly belonging to the general category, staged a protest at Delhi University's North Campus against the newly notified University Grants Commission (UGC) equity rules, demanding their immediate withdrawal.

The protesting students claimed that the rules promote discrimination on campuses instead of equality. They pointed out that there was no binding provision for the representation of general category students.

However, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday sought to allay concerns over the new UGC regulations, assuring that the law would not be misused and that there would be no discrimination in its implementation.

Speaking to the reporters, Pradhan said, "I assure everyone there will be no discrimination and no one can misuse the law."

On Tuesday, students in Lucknow staged a protest in front of Lucknow University, raising slogans against the UGC policies.

Earlier, Shyam Sundar Tripathi, Vice President of the BJP Kisan Morcha from the Salon constituency in Rae Bareli, had resigned from his post, citing dissatisfaction over new UGC policies. Tripathi announced his resignation in a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Due to the black law, like the reservation bill, brought against the children of the upper caste, I am resigning from my post. This law is extremely dangerous for society and also divisive. I am completely dissatisfied with the bill. There is great resentment. I do not support this reservation bill. Supporting such an unethical bill is completely against my self-respect and ideology," read the letter written in hindi.

- ANI