The University Grants Commission (UGC)'s recently notified rules to prevent caste discrimination in campuses has been challenged before the Supreme Court for excluding 'general category' students from complaining under its grievance redressal mechanism.

University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, was notified on January 13 and applies to all higher educational institutions in India.

Its objective is to "eradicate discrimination only on the basis of religion, race, gender, place of birth, caste, or disability, particularly against the members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, socially and educationally backward classes, economically weaker sections, persons with disabilities, or any of them, and to promote full equity and inclusion amongst the stakeholders in higher education institutions."

The regulations require higher educational institutions to establish Equal Opportunity Centers and Equity Committee for effective implementation of policies and programs for disadvantaged groups, and to enquire into the discrimination complaints.

However, a plea before the top court contends that the regulations are exclusionary as they deny grievance redressal and institutional protection to those not belonging to Scheduled Caste /Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) or Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories.

It, thus, seeks a direction to restrain the implementation of the regulations in its present form. The plea also prays for a declaration that denial of access to grievance redressal mechanism on the basis of caste identity amounts to "impermissible State discrimination".

"The impugned provision proceeds on an untenable presumption that caste-based discrimination can operate only in one direction, thereby foreclosing, as a matter of law, the possibility that persons belonging to general or upper castes may also be subjected to caste-based hostility, abuse, intimidation, or institutional prejudice," the plea argues.

This selective framework not only condones but effectively encourages unchecked hostility against non-reserved categories, rendering the Regulations a tool for division rather than equity, the plea adds.

Outside court, the regulations have sparked protests with dominant-caste members stating that these are one-sided and would be used against them in educational institutions.

A number of petitions and applications have been moved before the top court to challenge the regulations.