At least 10 Gujarat universities are among the defaulters listed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for not appointing a Lokpal (ombudsman) despite its directives last year.
The higher education regulator on April 11, 2023 had notified the UGC (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2023 through an official gazette asking all the universities in the country to comply by its directive and appoint ombudsperson to redress student grievances within 30 days.
This was followed with several reminders after which the UGC started publicly listing the names of universities which have defaulted.
The directive is to appoint ombudsperson and constitute students grievance redressal committee (SGRC). Despite the directive, universities in Gujarat and other parts of the country have continued flouting it.
In March this year, at least 20 universities of Gujarat were listed as defaulters by the UGC. This included M S University, Dharmsinh Desai University, Gujarat Ayurveda University, Gujarat Biotechnology University, Gujarat National Law University, Kamdhenu University, Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University, Swarnim Gujarat Sports University, Anant National University, C U Shah University, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Ganpat University, Gandhinagar University, Indus University, ITM (SLS) Baroda University, Karnavati University, Lokbharati University, Sigma University, Sarvajanik University and Silver Oak University.
The latest list of 10 defaulting universities from Gujarat issued through a public notice by UGC secretary professor Manish Joshi on June 19 names four state universities and six private universities.
This includes MSU, Gujarat Ayurveda University, Saurashtra University and Swarnim Gujarat Sports University, Anant National University, Indus University, KN University, Gandhinagar University, Karnavati University Sarvajanik University.
This means that despite being listed as defaulters in March, MSU, Gujarat Ayurveda University, Swarnim Gujarat Sports University, Anant National University, Gandhinagar University, Indus University, Karnavati University and Sarvajanik University continued to be on the defaulters list that was updated on June 1.
Saurashtra University and KN University have been listed as defaulting universities for the first time.
Ironically, while the UGC list of defaulters mentions names of just 10 universities from Gujarat, there are many other universities which have not been listed as defaulting universities but they are yet to fully comply with the UGC directive. A number of public and private universities in the state have still not displayed such details on their websites.
The UGC has asked the universities and its affiliated colleges to not only appoint ombudsperson (s) and constitute SGRC but also to display the particulars and contact details on their websites and at prominent places on their campuses.
The commission has asked all the stakeholders and the public to write emails if any university or college does not have an ombudsperson/SGRC or their details are not available in the public domain. Across the country, there are 155 universities, including 108 state universities and 47 private universities, which have been listed as defaulters by the UGC since June 1.
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