228 universities yet to appoint ombudsperson; UGC notifies defaulters’ list

NEW DELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has notified the list of defaulting universities that are yet to appoint ombudsperson. As per the updated list, 228 universities have not yet appointed the ombudsperson and implemented other provisions of the UGC regulations.

A total of 159 state universities, 67 private universities and 2 deemed-to-be-universities have been listed in the UGC defaulting institutes. In January 2024, 421 universities were found to have not appointed ombudspersons.

The UGC has notified the University Grants Commission (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2023 in the official gazette on April 11, 2023. More than 11 months later, it was observed that several universities have failed to appoint ombudsperson for redressal of grievances of students under these regulations.

Universities have been instructed to share the complete details of ombudsperson to the following email IDs.

• In case of a central university: mssarma.ugc@nic.in
• In case of a state university: smitabidani.ugc@nic.in
• In case of a deemed to be university: jitendra.ugc@nic.in
• In case of a private university: shakeel.ugc@nic.in

Those who have already appointed the official but have their name in the list of defaulters have also been requested to write to the respective email addresses.

“The Universities and their affiliated Colleges are requested to display the particulars and contact details of the Ombudsperson(s) and Students Grievance Redressal Committee (SGRC) on their websites and at prominent places on their campuses,” the UGC said.

The list of state universities include, Arunachal Pradesh University, Cluster University, Andhra Pradesh Fisheries University, Bihar Engineering University, International Institute of Information Technology, Delhi Teachers University, Delhi Sports University, Himachal Pradesh University, Karnataka University.

Morarji Desai National Institute and Indian Agriculture Research Institute are the two deemed-to-be-universities named under the defaulters list.