The Supreme Court of India on Thursday (January 29, 2026) stayed the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Rules, 2026. The rules only allow caste-based discrimination against Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward communities on educational campuses, while failing to protect upper castes and general category students.

“The 2026 Regulations will have far-reaching effects that will divide society,” said Chief Justice Surya Kant, who heads a bench comprising Justice Joymarya Bagki.

“Vandalism is one of the biggest problems in educational campuses. If a general category fresher resists vandalism by a senior Scheduled Caste student, the latter can file a complaint under Rules 2026, but the former has no redress. It can lead to a police encounter. The fresher can be prosecuted, put in jail and possibly end his future on his first day of admission to the university,” the petitioner’s lawyer submitted.

The court agreed that the 2026 Regulations required scrutiny. The report said that, for the time being, the University Grants Commission (Promoting Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations 2012 remain in force.

The court issued notice to the Union government and the UGC on a petition specifically challenging Rule 3(c) of the 2026 Rules, which defines “caste-based discrimination” “solely on the basis of caste or tribe against members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes”.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising and advocate Prasanna S opposed the stay order, saying that continuing to suspend the regulation was tantamount to “calling a perfectly able-bodied person disabled”. She said the regulations address the real and current issue of discrimination against Dalits and students from historically oppressed castes within higher education institutions.

“Whatever we have gained in the last 75 years towards building a casteless society, will we now pursue regressive policies?” the Chief Justice asked.

He said discrimination was not based solely on caste.

“Children come from far-flung places in the Northeast and South to study on campus here. They carry their cultural values ​​with them. Everyone should be proud of them when they follow those cultural practices here. But someone who is completely unconnected with these practices starts commenting on them in a derogatory manner. This is the worst form of vandalism,” Chief Justice Kant said.

Justice Bagki said that instead of focusing only on caste, regulations should refer to comprehensive discrimination. “We should not go to the stage of segregating schools and hostels. India’s unity must be reflected in our educational institutions,” Justice Bagki observed.

Chief Justice Cant asked, “If this happens on campus, how will people behave off campus?”

The petition, filed by Rahul Dewan, Mritunjay Tiwari, advocate Vineet Jindal and others, said the definition of “caste-based discrimination” in the 2026 Regulations “by design and operation confers legal recognition of victimhood only on certain reserved categories and categorically excludes people belonging to general castes or upper castes from its ambit of protection, irrespective of the nature, severity or circumstances of the discrimination suffered by them.”

The petition said a short-sighted definition would institutionalize exclusion at the threshold and create a “hierarchy of victimhood while introducing constitutionally impermissible bias into a regulatory framework that purports to be neutral and inclusive.”