Several Opposition leaders on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court’s stay on the 2026 University Grants Commission’s Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, saying that the rules were “arbitrary and an attempt to create further discrimination on campuses”.
The rules,notified on January 13, had led to protests by upper-caste students who argued that it could lead to discrimination against them. The protesters contended that the rules were biased against students from the general category as they did not provide for measures against “false complaints”.
The court, whileissued a stay on the regulations on Thursday, observed that its provisions were “prima facievague and capable of misuse”. It asked the Union government to redraft the regulations and added that until then, their operation will remain in abeyance.
After the court order, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said that the new rules implemented by the UGC to prevent caste-based incidents in universities had created an atmosphere of social tension.
“In light of these current circumstances, the Honourable Supreme Court's decision today to ban the new UGC rules is appropriate,” Mayawati said in a statement on social media.
She added that such an atmosphere would not have arisen in the matter if the UGC had taken all parties into confidence before implementing the regulations and had “given proper representation to the upper-caste society in the investigation committee etc. under natural justice”.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said that “true justice does not do injustice to anyone”, adding that this was what the court had ensured with its order.
“The language of the law should be clear and so should its substance,” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said on social media. “It is not just a matter of rules, it is also a matter of intention. No one should be oppressed, no one should be treated unjustly.”
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that she was glad that the court stepped in and stayed the UGC guidelines, which she described as “vague, arbitrary and an attempt to create further discrimination on campuses”.
Chaturvedi said that the Union government’s “absolute abdication” of its responsibility to intervene and withdraw the UGC regulations showed “that they give no respect or consideration to peoples protests..”
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari alsowelcomed the decision of the court to stay the rules, PTI reported.
“The BJP [ruling Bharatiya Janata Party] government creates conflicts in the name of religion, caste and category to divert people's attention from real issues,” the news agency quoted him as saying.
CPI(ML), Bhim Army chief oppose order
On the other hand, the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation said that the observations made by the court on Thursday weredeeply appalling, adding that it reflected a “myopic attitude”.
The party said that caste and racial discrimination were not abstract concepts or historical relics but “brutal, everyday realities in our educational institutions and across society”.
Data compiled by the UGC showed that complaints of caste-based discrimination in universities and colleges had increased by 118% between 2019 and 2024, the statement said. “These incidents of caste based violence are a consequence of a casteist system sustained by institutional and state complicity,” it added.
The party said that the stay issued by the court was a “capitulation before Brahminical pressure”.
The CPI(ML) Liberation urged “all rational sections of society to stand for the measures and reject any attempt to whip up caste hysteria in a bid to stall the long overdue measure”.
Earlier in the day, Azad Samaj Party chief and MP Chandrashekhar Azad said that he had written to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhanseeking the implementation of the UGC regulations as a binding provision for eliminating discrimination prevalent in central institutions, including Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and All India Institutes Of Medical Sciences.
Azad added that the opposition to the regulations were “misleading” and were an organised effort against social justice, especially pertaining to the rights of students from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
The Bhim Army chief also told News18 India that the stay was issued as the Centre could not adequately defend the rules before the court.
Also read: UGC did not defend its equity guidelines in court. But activists explain why they must be defended
What the rules mandate
The UGC’s new equity rules require institutes to set up special committees, helplines and monitoring teams to address complaints, particularly from members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
The UGC had in 2012 first released equity rules for higher education institutes, which required them to set up Equal Opportunity Cells and Anti-Discrimination Officers. However, those rules did not provide for action against institutions that did not comply with them.
In contrast, the 2026 rules require the UGC to set up a monitoring committee to oversee their implementation.
Institutes that do not comply with the regulations can be barred from participating in the commission’s schemes, offering degree programmes and online courses, and can be removed from the list of institutes eligible to receive central grants.
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