Link grants to ragging record of college: panel

The Supreme Court monitoring committee on ragging has asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to link grants to institutions with compliance to prevent ragging.

The committee headed by former CBI director R.K. Raghavan met in Delhi on Wednesday, and expressed its disappointment with the helplessness shown by regulatory bodies in getting information from educational institutions on ragging.

Raghavan also asked the regulatory bodies to ensure that educational institutions under their purview become zero-tolerance campuses for ragging. This message should be displayed on admission boards, the committee suggested. The committee met to take stock of the situation and review the progress made by different stakeholders on the recommendations of the committee’s report on anti-ragging measures.

UGC officials said a separate cell has been constituted to look after matters relating to ragging in universities and colleges. Committee officials suggested that the release of grants under various schemes should be linked to compliance of institutions with SC directions in this regard. Higher grants should be given to institutions that ensure that ragging does not take place on their campuses, the committee said.

The committee reiterated that the SC has upheld the recommendation that ragging lowered the standards of higher education, and each regulatory body was required to ensure that the court’s directions were strictly complied with. Wherever any incident of ragging is reported and institutions do not take adequate steps, regulatory bodies must conduct enquiries through fact-finding committees, the committee said.