UGC pulls up defaulting varsities failed to appoint ombudsperson; list includes Jadavpur University, Anna University

In total there are 256 state universities and Meghalaya's North Eastern Hill University, a central university in the UGC list of defaulting universities.
The higher education regulator, University Grants Commission, has listed 256 defaulting universities who have failed to appoint an ombudsperson as directed under the University Grants Commission (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2023 on Thursday.
Under the guidelines, the universities were requested to appoint an ombudsperson within 30 days of the notification released on April 12, 2023. This was followed with several reminders, including a notification on December 5, 2023 requesting the appointment by the end of the year.
State universities like the Delhi Teachers’ University, BR Ambedkar University, Delhi, Indira Gandhi Technical University for Women , Kerala’s APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, and Tamil Nadu’s Anna University are some of the universities named in the list. In total there are 256 state universities and Meghalaya’s North Eastern Hill University, a central university in the UGC list.
Jadavpur University — which has been in the eye of the storm with brutal ragging cases in the recent past — has also been listed by the UGC for not furnishing the details of ombudsperson. In August, a 17-year-old student of Jadavpur University who was not only ragged by his seniors but sexually abused, died on the campus after falling from the second floor of the university’s main hostel. Another case of sexual harassment and ragging was filed by a postgraduate student in November 2023.

In addition, prominent law colleges like the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru and the Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai as well as Nagpur are also part of the UGC list of universities that have failed to provide details of an ombudsperson.
Each university and their affiliated colleges, as per the guidelines, are required to display the particulars and contact details of the ombudsperson and students’ grievance redressal committee (SGRC) on their websites and at prominent places on their campuses.