New rules for universities, called the UGC Equity Regulation 2026, are facing challenges in the Supreme Court. These rules aim to stop discrimination on campuses. They were announced by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on January 17, 2026 .
The main goal of these regulations is to end bias based on religion, race, gender, where a student is born, caste, or disability. To achieve this, every college and university will create Equal Opportunity Centres (EOC) . These centres will help students who need academic or financial support. They will also form Equity Committees to handle complaints about discrimination.
However, the rules currently only apply to students from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), women, and people with disabilities. This has led to a legal case because students from the 'General Category' are not included in these specific protections. The case is now in the Supreme Court.
Controversy Over New Rules
The UGC Equity Regulations 2026 have caused a lot of discussion and legal action. Here are the main points of the disagreement:
- Some people believe the rules are unfair because they do not offer the same protections to 'General Category' students.
- A lawyer named Vineet Jindal has filed a petition saying that a part of the rule (Regulation 3(c)) is against the Constitution. This part defines 'caste-based discrimination' in a way that only covers certain castes.
- The petition argues that by not including general category students, the law creates different levels of protection. It claims this stops them from getting help for their problems, which goes against the Right to Equality in the Constitution.
- There have been protests at the UGC office and in universities. Some people have called the new rules 'black laws'.
- On January 28, 2026 , a court bench, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant , agreed to hear the new petition quickly because of the ongoing protests and public discussion.
- The Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan , has said that the rules will not be misused and are meant to keep campuses safe, with the Supreme Court watching over them.
