[ExpressIndia] UGC formulates norms to prevent ragging

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Lalmani Verma
Tuesday , June 03, 2008

Lucknow, June 02 In its bid to make universities follow the directions of the Supreme Court and the government against ragging in institutions, the University Grant Commission (UGC) is framing certain regulations to impede such practices in colleges.

UGC Secretary AK Chauhan said on Monday that the commission has also constituted a committee to frame regulations. Chauhan was in the state capital to take suggestions from teachers and government officials for the revision of pay scale of teachers in higher education.

“Guidelines both from the apex court and the government against ragging already exist. But to ensure their effective implementation it is necessary for educational institutions to follow them. To take up this task, the UGC has constituted a committee.”

The committee will submit its recommendations to the UGC within a month. “These regulations will be operational from the new session starting in July,” said Chauhan.

Also, UGC is planning to introduce certain guidelines for the central as well as state universities to put a check on the increasing fee structure of the higher education institutions. “There are number of universities and colleges, both aided and unaided, which are charging huge amount of fees while at the same time, some colleges are not able to even provide necessary facilities to its students due to lack of funds,” said Chauhan. He added that a Fee Regulations Committee has been constituted to go into this matter.

“Deliberations are on. There are possibilities that some institutions would have to cut their fees while some other could be recommended to hike their fee structure,” said UGC secretary.

Earlier, Chauhan, as secretary of the Pay Review Committee (PRC) met the vice-chancellors of universities and other senior academicians to seek their suggestions for a revision in pay scale of teachers. PRC will hold meetings with academicians across the country and submit its report to UGC by September. UGC will forward that to Central government for final decision.