Varanasi Students Celebrate SC Stay on UGC Equity Rules as "Partial Win"

The students distributed sweets and raised slogans to celebrate the SC's order.

President of Parshuram Seva, Anil Chaturvedi, said this was a "partial win" and demanded that the regulations be enforced.

"We've received this partial win. The fight will be long. On February 1st, we are holding a large gathering at the Martyrs' Memorial in Jaipur. All the communities, castes, and groups of the upper castes will gather there on that day, and we will decide from there, with all our strength and numbers, that until the government withdraws this entire law, we will not stop this fight, we will not end it, we will not finish it. And we will decide this on that very day," he said.

"So, let the governments listen: we respect the Supreme Court's order, but this law must be withdrawn. It must be withdrawn at all costs. On February 1st, the roar from Jaipur will be heard throughout Delhi and the entire world," he added.

National President of Karni Sena, Mahipal Singh Makrana, said "this is a lollipop" and vowed to continue to their fight against the regulations.

"This is a lollipop in the name of the upper caste community. The people sitting in the Supreme Court, all the judges, can clearly see and hear; that's why they granted the stay. The people who are blind and deaf, who are sitting in the Lok Sabha, are the ones who need to listen. They created this bill, and until we stand together and show our unity against it, and until that bill is rejected there, there is no strength, no victory in this, and we will not consider it a victory," he said.

"It's a partial victory, which may have been given to buy time and to stop us. We are not going to stop at all. This fire is burning throughout the country, in the heart of every community. We will not let the future of our children be ruined, no matter what level we have to go to," he added.

Amid an uproar around the country over the alleged "discrimination" against the General Category in the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, the SC on Thursday stayed the regulations.

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 Court noted that this raises an unexamined concern: if a Group A Scheduled Caste individual makes discriminatory or derogatory remarks against a Group B Scheduled Caste individual, has this aspect been adequately addressed under the 2026 framework?

After 75 years of trying to make a caste-less society, whether the direction of policy-making is progressive or tending towards a regressive approach, it asked.

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

Students, mostly from the general category, protested against regulations that promote discrimination on campuses rather than equality. The students noted that the regulation has no provision to address fraudulent complaints filed against General Category students.

- ANI