New Delhi

The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that it is setting up a special committee to re-examine the UGC’s 2026 regulations on promoting equity in higher education institutions, whose implementation was stayed by the court in January.

Solicitor General (SGI) Tushar Mehta submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant that the government was looking at ways to address students’ concerns and ensure that no group feels excluded, threatened or apprehensive under the framework.

The CJI said the exercise must safeguard the interests of all students and emphasised that the concerns and well-being of the younger generation should remain central. 

The court had earlier stayed the 2026 regulations after raising concerns that their provisions were prima facie vague and could be misused. It had directed that the 2012 UGC equity regulations would continue to apply until further consideration.

While staying the 2026 UGC regulations in their entirety, a bench of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi termed the language of the provision that defines "caste-based discrimination" as "vague".

"There is complete vagueness in Regulation 3 (C), and it can be misused. The language needs to be re-modified," the Court remarked.

The Court noted that for now, the 2012 UGC regulations will operate until it examines the validity of the 2026 regulations.

The bench, while acknowledging the submissions from the petitioners, stated that it may issue directions to the UGC to constitute a Committee, which should be approved by the Court, comprising academicians and eminent jurists who understand the functioning of educational institutions.

"Schools and colleges cannot exist in isolation or in a vacuum; they are an integral part of society", CJI Kant said. "How are people going to behave outside the campus if we create this kind of situation inside the campus?" the Court remarked.

These 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.

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UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, led to massive protests in the national capital.