The University Grants Commission (UGC) has struck down a rule in a university law that disallowed assessment of theses by African examiners, terming the regulation racially discriminatory.

New Delhi, Dec. 4: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has struck down a rule in a university law that disallowed assessment of theses by African examiners, terming the regulation racially discriminatory.

Bharathiar University, a reputable institution run by the Tamil Nadu government in Coimbatore, had said in its latest PhD regulations that the panel to assess theses should have four examiners each from abroad and India. The research guide has to submit the names of the examiners.

The regulations said that except for Tamil theses, the foreign examiners should be preferably chosen from scientifically advanced countries, avoiding African countries other than South Africa. The UGC objected to this provision, following which the university has deleted the provision and issued revised regulations.

UGC secretary Jaspal Singh Sandhu has also issued a general circular to all universities to refrain from making such discrimination.

“Such regulation not only violates the norms prescribed by the UGC… but it is also against the foreign policy of the Government of India,” the circular said. “Therefore, an advisory is issued to all the universities to delete such clauses or norms from their regulations/bylaws/statutes etc which discriminate against students and examiners of any particular state or country that wherever imply racial or other discrimination, if any,” the circular added.

Sandhu told The Telegraph that the UGC has written to all universities as a preventive measure.

Bharathiar University had earned an A grade from the National Accreditation and Assessment Council for offering quality education.

Its registrar, P.K. Manoharan, said the university’s intent was not to discriminate on the basis of race or caste. “There was a provision in the first regulation. Our intention was not to discriminate. Anyway, that has been revised now. We are not avoiding African examiners,” Manoharan said.

The registrar said he was yet to establish how or why the provision had made its way into the original regulations. “I do not have details immediately,” he said.

It is not clear whether a sweeping perception that examiners from certain regions or countries are less rigorous than those from the West had prompted the university to put in place the discriminatory clause.

The former vice-chancellor of the University of Mumbai, Bhalchandra Mungekar, said that such as provision was “beyond condemnation”.

“This is absolutely most distressing form of apartheid. Mahatma Gandhi became Mahatma after fighting racial discrimination. The same country eliminating African scholars as examiners is utterly disgraceful and killing Gandhi’s legacy,” he said.