Plea in SC questions UGC regulations on caste-based discrimination

New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court questioning validity of a recently notified University Grants Commission regulation on the ground of making a non-inclusionary definition of caste-based discrimination and excluding certain categories from institutional protection.

In his plea, advocate Vineet Jindal claimed that regulation 3(c) of the recently notified UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, was "non-inclusionary" and failed to protect students and faculty who did not belong to reserved categories.

It contended that the regulation violated the fundamental rights guaranteed under articles 14 (right to equality) and 15(1) (Prohibition of discrimination by the state on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth).

The plea stated that by limiting the scope of "caste-based discrimination" only to SC, ST, and OBC categories, the UGC has effectively denied institutional protection and grievance redressal to individuals belonging to the "general" or non-reserved categories who may also face harassment or bias based on their caste identity.

The provision in its present "exclusionary form" creates a hierarchy of protection that is unconstitutional, it claimed, asking the court to restrain the authorities from enforcing regulation 3(c) in its current form and issue a direction to redefine caste-based discrimination in a "caste-neutral and constitutionally-compliant manner."