Heads Of Higher Educational Institutions Shall Be Held Responsible For Ragging Incidents: Uttarakhand High Court

The Uttarakhand High Court has passed directions to the State and University authorities to strictly implement the Regulations to curb ragging in all the higher educational institutions of the State.

While expressing serious concern over the menace of ragging, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Alok Kumar Verma said

“…it is seen that the activity of ragging is perpetuated by each successive batch, as if to take revenge for the torment that they have been subjected to, by their seniors.”

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed based on a report published in the ‘Times of India’ on 06.03.2022 highlighting the ragging of several 1st year MBBS students, studying at Sushila Tiwari Government Medical College, Haldwani.

The petitioner urged the Court to pass necessary directions to the respondent authorities requiring them to take necessary and permanent measures to prohibit ragging throughout the higher educational institutions so that it does not get repeated in the future.

The Court took note of the UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009, and the directions issued by the Apex Court against the acts of ragging in University of Kerala v. Council of Principals of Colleges in Kerala & Ors., and Vishwa Jagriti Mission, through its President v. Central Government & Ors.

The Court observed that the aforesaid Regulations show that the responsibility for preventing and curbing the activity of ragging, defined in Regulation 3, has been cast on the head of the respective institutions.

The Court underlined that in each institution, an Anti-Ragging Committee should be constituted which is to be headed by the head of the institution, which consists of representatives of civil and police administration, local media, NGOs involved in youth activities, representatives of faculty members, parents and students belonging to the freshers’ category, as well as senior students, non-teaching staff.

The Court pointed out that every University is also required to constitute a Monitoring Cell on ragging, which shall coordinate with the affiliated colleges and Institutions under the University to achieve the objectives of the Regulations.

“Apart from that, a District Level Anti-Ragging Committee is required to be constituted by the State Government to be headed by the District Magistrate for the control and elimination of ragging in institutions, within the jurisdiction of the District”, the Court added.

Accordingly, the Court directed the State to disclose in its affidavit the particulars of each and every institution in the State imparting education at graduate, post graduate, and professional level and to collect information from all such institutions with regard to the constitution of the Anti-Ragging Committee at the institutional levels.

“The State Government shall also collect information from the head of the institutions-whether, they are strictly complying with aforesaid Regulations, or not. The information so collected shall be placed before this Court by the State Government in a tabulated form, indicating the status of compliance / non-compliance by the institutions,” the Court further added.

The State Government was also required to disclose whether or not the District Level Committees have been constituted and if not constituted, the same was directed to be constituted within the next two weeks.

“The respondent Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are directed to collect information from institutions over which they exercise supervision, to collect information with regard to the constitution of the Monitoring Cell, and all such information should also be provided by the said respondents in tabulated form before this Court”, it was further directed.

Before parting with the order, the Court warned the authorities and said,

“We put the heads of all graduate level, post graduate level, and professional institutions in the State to notice, that non-compliance of the aforesaid Regulations shall be viewed seriously, and the head of the institution concerned, wherever acts of ragging are found to be occurring shall be held responsible.”

Case Title: Sachidanand Dabral v. Union of India & Ors.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Utt) 4

Case No.: Writ Petition (PIL) No. 23 of 2022

Date of Order: March 21, 2023

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