Varsities in Telugu States fail to set up GRCs

Hyderabad: The University Grants Commission’s (UGC) notification on setting up “Grievances Redressal Committees (GRCs) in all universities has not taken effect in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh State even five years after publication of regulations.  

According to the sources in the UGC regional office, the University Grants Commission (Grievance Redressal) Regulations -2012 covers the "undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes run by all statutory universities and their affiliated colleges, besides deemed universities.  

Basing on these statutory provisions, the UGC notified on December 6, 2016, asking all the universities, recognised by it, to ensure that the GRCs were formed within four months of the date of notification. It had also given an elaborate procedure to be followed for constituting such committees and selection of its members. The committees should be headed by either former judge or retired professors. 

The main objective in setting up the GRCs is to ensure that the students are not at the receiving end in the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in the country. Accordingly, the universities, besides setting up a permanent mechanism in the form of GRCs should also take steps in replicating the same in the colleges affiliated to them.

Further, details of the GRCs should be made available in the prospectus and on the websites of higher education institutions. However, not a single college affiliated to any of the State universities in TS and AP has set up GRCs so far. “Even in case of universities ad hoc measures are being taken to resolve complaints relating to ragging, discipline and the like by constituting a committee on the ad-hoc basis to resolve the issues in the institutions like JNTU-Hyderabad and JNTU-Kakinada.

In some cases, like Andhra University in Visakhapatnam, and Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupathi, the students had lodged their complaints through the online portal of the UGC. While some complaints were resolved and others remained pending, the official added.

Clarifying on the same, sources in the Telangana State Council for Higher Education (TSCHE) said, the State government had already formed Telangana Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee (TAFRC), headed by a former High Court judge. Similarly, the AP has formed a similar committee. However, the functioning of both the committees is confined only to fixing of the fee for various courses rather than giving effect to all the provisions of the regulations, the sources added.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior faculty member from the Osmania University said, “giving effect to all the provisions would give a tough time to both the universities as well as colleges.”

Because, the students could lodge complaints against the universities or colleges, for “non-payment or, delay in payment of scholarships. Complaints could also be lodged for the delay in conducting the examinations as well as the declaration of results beyond a specific academic calendar and failure to provide quality education and amenities as promised or required. Since the GRCs have the authority to impose fines on the institutions of higher education to compensate loss caused to the students.