New Delhi, May 10: After the notification of Redressal of Grievances of Students Regulation, 2019 in the Government of India Gazette on May 6th, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has directed universities to set up an online student grievance redressal portal within three months.
The new regulation lists out 16 categories of grievances which include admission contrary to merit, non-publication of prospectus in accordance with the provisions of the regulations, withholding any documents of students (certificates, etc.), demanding money in excess, non-payment or delayed payment of scholarship, delay in conducting examination or declaration of result, non-transparent evaluation of students, denial of quality education, harassment or victimisation of student.
Each university to have four grievance redressal committees, students not satisfied with their decisions may approach Ombudsperson
The regulation also mandates the uploading of the prospectus on the official website of the institution. The prospectus must carry all information including list of programs, number of seats, educational qualification and eligibility for all programs, selection procedure, breakdown of all fee components, deposits and other charges payable by students, details of all faculty members along with their educational qualifications and information about the infrastructure- both physical and academic- of the institution.
The regulation also lays that there are to be four levels of students’ grievance redressal committees, namely the collegiate committee, departmental committee, institutional committee and university committee. In case a student is not satisfied with the decision of the University Student Grievance Redressal Committee, he/she can appeal to the Ombudsperson. The Ombudspersons would be very senior academicians who have served as Vice Chancellors or universities in the past.
The time frame for an institution to refer an online complaint to the appropriate committee is 15 days. The committee to which the complaint is referred will then fix a date for hearing the complaint. The date would to be communicated to the aggrieved student as well as the institution.
Universities not complying with new regulations will face punishments including withholding of grants
There is also a provision for penal action against institutions which violate the regulation. The UGC can take action against institutions which wilfully contravene these regulations or repeatedly fail to comply with the recommendations of the committees or the Ombudsperson. The penalties of not complying with the new regulations could be as severe as withholding of grants of the withdrawal of declaration of fitness to receive grants under Section 12B.
