By Admin 
While hearing the petition filed against the new rules of the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Thursday (January 29, 2026), Chief Justice Surya Kant got angry when it was proposed that there should be separate hostels for different castes. CJI Surya Kant said, what kind of things are happening, we used to live in hostels with everyone and now inter-caste marriages have also started happening.
The bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Jomalya Bagchi was hearing the case. The CJI said that the worst thing that happens during ragging in colleges is that students coming from South or North-East bring their culture with them and students who do not know about them start commenting on it.
What did CJI say on the proposal of separate hostels?
On the proposal of making separate hostels for castes in the new rules, the court said, ‘For God’s sake, don’t do this. Now inter-caste marriages are taking place in the country and we all students of all castes used to live together in hostels. He said that whatever we have achieved in 75 years towards creating a classless society, are we now moving towards a casteless society or going backward.
Petitioner’s lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain said that he is especially opposing Section 3(c) of the UGC rules, in which only SC, ST and OBC have been talked about. This is a matter of excluding other sections. He said that discrimination is already defined in Section 3(e). In this situation what is the need of 3(c). This is going to create division in the society.
The petitioner said- Discrimination happens with other castes also
The lawyer said that apart from SC, ST and OBC, he can also give examples of discrimination against other castes. He said that he is demanding a ban on Section 3(c). Here it is assumed that discrimination can happen only to certain sections of the society. The CJI told him that there was no need for this. The court is only seeing whether the new rules are right according to Article 14 (right to equality) or not.
The CJI asked that if a South Indian student comes to a college in North India or a student from North India goes to study in a college in the South and inappropriate comments are made on him, is that covered under Section 3(e). The lawyer said on this that yes. He said that this is what we are saying that there was no need to create a separate section for some castes.
Why is ragging not included in the new UGC rules? CJI asked
Another lawyer said in the court that if a general category student comes to college on the first day. There is nothing in these rules for what he will do if his seniors are from Scheduled Caste and they rag him. On the contrary, if the ragging perpetrators file discrimination charges against him under the new rules, his life will be ruined. After hearing this, the CJI asked whether ragging was included in the rules, then the lawyer said that no, it is not included in it.
The court asked why ragging was not included in the UGC rules and how could it be accepted that only caste-based discrimination occurs in colleges. He said that there is division everywhere on the basis of senior-junior and harassment often happens on this basis.
Why was caste-based discrimination defined separately? CJI asked
The court told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, that at present it is putting a stay on the rules. The court asked the Center why caste-based discrimination has been defined separately when the definition of discrimination already includes all types of discriminatory practices. He also asked why ragging was not included in the rules. The CJI said that the court wants to know whether the disputed rules of the new rules can be written in a way that is inclusive and fair to all.
What is the new rule of UGC?
On January 13, Equality Regulations 2026 were brought by UGC. It was brought with the aim of eliminating caste discrimination in educational institutions controlled by higher education, but protests started in the country regarding this. All universities will have to implement the new rule and UGC has prepared a complete blueprint for how to implement it.
Also read:-
Supreme Court put a stay on the new rules of UGC, CJI said – ‘Don’t do this, we are going backwards…’