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Supreme Court on UGC Equity Regulations 2026
February 3 , 2026
3 hrs 0 min
18
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- The Supreme Court ordered that the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, be kept in abeyance.
- The court directed that the previous 2012 guidelines (UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012) remain in force.
- Since the 2012 Regulations had been repealed, the Court was exercising its powers under Article 142.
- The bench examined the regulation through Article 15(4).
- That enables the State to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes, including SCs and STs.
- The 2026 Regulations were formulated in response to the ongoing case Abeda Salim Tadvi v. Union of India (2019).
- The present petitions specifically challenged Section 3(1)(c).
- The section exclusively defines discrimination against SC, ST, and OBC members, thereby excluding the general category.
- Moreover, the 2026 Regulations contain no mechanism to penalize false complaints.
- The Supreme Court invoked the "principle of no-regression" from environmental and social justice law, questioning why the 2026 rules were less inclusive than the 2012 version.
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