SC agrees to hear plea against UGC’s new equity regulations

SC agrees to hear plea against UGC’s new equity regulations 

New Delhi : 29.01.2026

Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to list for hearing a plea challenging a recently notified UGC regulation on the grounds that it had adopted a non-inclusionary definition of caste-based discrimination and excluded certain categories from institutional protection. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of the submissions of a lawyer seeking urgent hearing of the plea. “There is a possibility of discrimination against the general class. My case is ‘Rahul Dewan and Ors vs Union’,” a lawyer said. The CJI said: “We know what is happening. Make sure defects are cured. We will list it.” The new regulations mandating all higher education institutions to form “equity committees” to look into discrimination complaints and promote equity were notified on Jan 13. University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, mandated that these committees include members of OBC, SC and ST communities, persons with disabilities, and women. The new regulations replace UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, which was largely advisory in nature. The plea assailed the regulations on the grounds that castebased discrimination was defined strictly as discrimination against SC, ST and OBC community members. It said that by limiting the scope only to these categories, UGC had effectively denied institutional protection and grievance redress to individuals belonging to the “general” or non-reserved categories, who may also face harassment based on their caste identity. Protests were held in various places, with student groups demanding rollback of the regulations. PTI