'Specify Steps Taken To End Caste Discrimination In Campuses' : Supreme Court To UGC In Plea By Mothers Of Rohit Vemula & Payal Tadvi

Terming it a ‘very sensitive matter’ the Supreme Court on Thursday sought the UGCs’ response in a PIL filed by the mothers of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi, for guidelines for creating an enabling environment for students belonging to SC/ ST communities in institutions of higher education.

The matter was before a division bench of Justice AS Bopanna and Justice MM Sundresh.

“Ultimately it is in the interest of the students and the parents whose children have lost their lives. In the future, atleast some care should be taken that this doesn’t happen.” Justice Bopanna told UGC.

Justice Bopanna told the UGC that as the litigation is non-adversarial, rather than replying in the nature of objections, care must be taken to specify how the UGC is planning to address and rectify the concerns raised in the petition. Justice Sundresh also asked the UGC to specify whatever steps have been taken by the body so far and what is proposed to be done.

"It would be good if it is done in a consultative manner." Senior Advocate Indira Jaisingh and appearing for the Petitioners and assisted by Adv. Disha Wadekar told the Court. "Tell the UGC this is a sensitive matter and you have to take some action. Since it is not adversarial you can also discuss with the petitioner’s counsel for suggestions." Justice Bopanna informed the counsel for UGC. 

Justice MM Sundresh also suggested to the UGC to propose how to facilitate students from SC/ST backgrounds to the mainstream.  "How do you facilitate them to get into the mainstream? Because they have come from a different backgrounds. There are many scenarios, some might drop out, some may not perform well."

Rohit Vemula a PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University and the son of Radhika Vemula, died by suicide on January 17, 2016, while Payal Tadvi, an Adivasi student at TN Topiwala National Medical College in Mumbai and daughter of Abeda Salim Tadvi, died by suicide on May 22, 2019. Both suicides have been attributed to alleged case based discrimination in educational institutions.

Senior Advocate Indira Jaisingh appearing for the petitioners. pointed out that “equity regulations” framed by the UGC in 2012 to address complaints of caste discrimination on campuses, is inadequate. “It is unfortunate that these regulations do not have a binding nature, because they don’t have any sanction for violation of the regulations. When these regulations are compared to regulations under statues such as POSH and anti ragging regulations, they fall short” Jaisingh argued.

Pointing out that notice was issued to the Centre in the matter as far back as in September 2019, Jaisingh submitted that there was an urgent need to address the issue:

“It is rather unfortunate that in the year 2023, 3 more suicides of have taken place of students. One of them in a National Law School, one in a medical college and one in an IIT. Therefore, there is a sense of urgency about this petition. It would be in the fitness of things if the UGC in a non adversarial manner could be persuaded to frame binding guidelines which will bind all institutes of higher education.”

The matter has been posted after 4 weeks.

Appearance for Petitioner: Sr. Advocate Indira Jaising, Adv. Disha Wadekar

Case Title: ABEDA SALIM TADVI AND ANR. V Union of India

Case No. W.P.(C) No. 1149/2019

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