"Are We Becoming A Regressive Society?" New UGC Equity Rules Stayed By Court

The University Grants Commission (UGC)'s new regulations have been put on hold by the Supreme Court amid widespread protests, especially by the general category students. The regulations must be re-examined, directed a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, flagging "complete vagueness" in the rules that make those prone to misuse.

During the hearing, CJI Kant lamented that society has not been able to do away with caste-based discrimination even after 75 years of independence.

"In a country after 75 years, all that we have achieved, to become a classless society; are we becoming a regressive society? (The) worst thing which is happening in ragging is that children coming from south or north-east... they carry their culture, and somebody who is alien to this starts commenting on them. Then you have spoken about separate hostels. For God's sake. There are inter-caste marriages also, and we have also been in hostels where all stayed together," the Chief Justice remarked.

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Stressing that the language of the regulations must be reviewed by an expert, the court issued a notice to centre and the UGC.

The bench also noted that Article 15(4) empowers the making of laws for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. However, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, part of the two-judge bench, agreed that there should be no regression in progressive legislation.

"I hope we don't go to segregated schools like the US, where blacks and whites went to different schools," he said, with the CJI adding, "This kind of situation can be exploited."

The court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the UGC regulations 2026 that mandated all universities and colleges in the country to establish an Equal Opportunity Centre (EOC) and campus-level committees to inquire into discrimination complaints and promote equity and inclusion.

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This led to protests over allegations that the new regulations lacked a clear mechanism for general category students to raise complaints, and warned that the regulations could inadvertently increase inequality.

Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain argued that the definition of "caste discrimination" restricts it to discrimination only against the SCs, STs, and OBCs, excluding the general category.

"We are challenging Section 3(c) of the regulations. Caste-based discrimination is defined as the caste-based discrimination against SC, ST, and OBC. This completely excludes the members of the general category. This definition under section 3(c) is completely hit by Article 14 when discrimination is already defined, and it cannot be assumed that discrimination is only against one segment," he argued.

With the UGC 2026 regulations put on hold, colleges and universities must continue following the 2012 rules.

The next hearing is scheduled on March 19.