Deny funds to errant colleges: Panel

The SC-appointed Raghavan Committee has suggested to the UGC to link release of grants to educational institutions with the compliance of the apex court directions, reports Bhadra Sinha.

The Supreme Court-appointed Raghavan Committee has suggested to the University Grants Commission (UGC) to link release of grants to educational institutions with the compliance of the apex court directions to curb ragging in colleges.

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The suggestion is made in wake of the regulatory bodies expressing their helplessness to prevent ragging in colleges. In its latest report the committee has also expressed its dissatisfaction over the progress of the Supreme Court directions to stop ragging in educational institutions. “The committee felt that enough efforts are not being made by the regulatory bodies to prevent ragging and the response of educational institutions to the efforts by the councils lacked promptness,” read the report, submitted before the bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat.

Although the committee has already communicated its suggestion to the UGC on August 5, the monitoring committee has left it to the special bench to take a final decision on its report. The bench has listed the case for final disposal in September.

Besides, the committee has also said that an audio-video campaign to prevent ragging should be undertaken at the commencement of the new academic session. Referring to the efforts made by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development and Delhi Police to prevent ragging in Delhi this year, the committee said: “Publicity effort must percolate to the institutional level and each campus should make efforts to publicise and sensitise students regarding the menace of ragging.”

It has also directed the educational institutions to incorporate in their admission notices or advertisements appropriate messages regarding “zero tolerance” towards ragging. The committee has further said that any incident as reported in the media should be presumed to be ragging unless on inquiry it is found to be otherwise.