Supreme Court Hearing on UGC Equity Rules 2026 Today: Check Key Updates and Details

The Supreme Court of India will hear a plea against the new UGC regulations today, i.e. On March 19. The Apex Court had previously intervened in a plea against the implementation of the UGC's new equity guidelines on January 29, 2024 (Thursday).

The Court had then stayed the 2026 rules and implemented the prior rules from 2012 which were advisory in nature. While doing so, the Bench questioned the constitutionality due to ambiguities, scope for exploitation and the inapplicability of caste-based protection for the general category students.

The bench which comprised Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi had also warned that the implementation of the scheme without reasonable limits might lead to "divide society" and may prove to have "dangerous repercussions". Notices were also sent to the UGC and the central government which are to file their replies by March 19, 2026.

What are UGC's New Equity Regulations 2026?

The UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026 were formulated to address caste-based and other types of discrimination on campuses more successfully than the advisory 2012 regulations. As per these regulations:

1. The Higher Education Institutions must establish "Equal Opportunity Centres" and "Equity Committees."

2. The Institutions must have a mechanism for redressal of grievances to deal with and take further action.

3. These regulations define discrimination and the manner of dealing with complaints. However, numerous petitions have stated that 'caste-based discrimination' is too narrowly defined. It currently only refers to discrimination against students who are SC, ST, and OBC groups, excluding them from the institution's protections.

Why did the Supreme Court interfere?

The Bench pointed out that Section 3(c) restricted the definition of discrimination to reserved categories only while in Section 3(e) the term has been defined broadly. Why two sections defining discrimination and will it not be more careful to refer the question to an expert committee for an inquiry? The petitioners argued that not providing protection for the students from the General Category would be a violation of the Constitution and hence discrimination against the State under Article 14.

Note: Article 14 states that the State shall not deny any person equality before the law and equal protection of laws. It covers all persons whether citizens or non-citizens, and even artificial persons like bodies corporate.