Uttarakhand High Court
WPPIL/23/2022 on 21 March, 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI VIPIN SANGHI
AND
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ALOK KUMAR VERMA
WRIT PETITION (PIL) NO. 23 OF 2022
21ST MARCH, 2023
Between:
Sachidanand Dabral ...... Petitioner
and
Union of India & others ...... Respondents
Counsel for the petitioner : Mr. Shiv Bhatt, learned counsel
Counsel for the respondents : Mr. V.K. Kaparuwan, learned
Standing Counsel for the Union of
India / respondent No. 1
: Ms. Sukhwani Singh, learned
counsel, holding brief of Mr.
Parikshit Saini, learned counsel for
respondent No. 2
: Ms. Anjali Bhargava, learned
counsel for respondent no. 4
: Mr. Pradeep Joshi, learned
Additional Chief Standing Counsel
for the State of Uttarakhand /
respondent Nos. 5 to 7
The Court made the following:
ORDER: (per Hon'ble The Chief Justice Sri Vipin Sanghi)
This petition has been preferred by the
petitioner in public interest to seek direction to the
respondent Nos. 1 to 5, i.e., the Union of India; the
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National Medical Commission; University Grants
Commission; Sushila Tiwari Government Medical College,
and; the State of Uttarakhand, to take necessary and
permanent measures to prohibit ragging through out the
Higher Educational Institutions (imparting education of
graduation, post graduation and professional courses) so
that barbaric type rapping does not occur in future in
any higher educational institution of the State.
2. The trigger for filing the present public interest
litigation is the act of ragging of several 1st year MBBS
students, studying at the respondent No. 4, Sushila
Tiwari Government Medical College, Haldwani, which
came to light, upon its reporting in the 'Times of India'
on 06.03.2022.
3. The petitioner also seeks a direction to
respondent Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 to strictly comply with the
provisions of the UGC Regulations on Curbing the
Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions,
2009, and the directions issued by the Supreme Court in
Civil Appeal No. 887 of 2009 on 08.05.2009, and the
judgment of the Supreme Court in University of Kerala
Vs Council of Principals of Colleges in Kerala and others,
(2009) 15 SCC 301, and Vishwa Jagriti Mission, through
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its President Vs Central Government through Cabinet
Secretary and others, (2001) 6 SCC 577.
4. A perusal of the aforesaid Regulations shows
that the responsibility for preventing and curbing the
activity of ragging, defined in Regulation 3, has been
cast on the Head of the Institution, which term is also
defined in Regulation 4(1)(g), to mean - the Vice-
Chancellor, in case of a university or a deemed to be
university, the Principal or the Director, or such other
designation as the executive head of the institution or
the college may have. These Regulations lay down the
steps that the Head of the Institution is required to take
in Regulation 7. In each institution, an Anti-Ragging
Committee is required to be nominated and headed by
the Head of the Institution, which consists of
representatives of civil and police administration, local
media, Non Government Organizations involved in youth
activities, representatives of faculty members,
representatives of parents, representatives of students
belonging to the freshers' category, as well as senior
students, non-teaching staff; and such committees
should have a diverse mix of membership in terms of
levels as well as gender.
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5. Every University is also required to constitute
a Monitoring Cell on ragging, which shall coordinate with
the affiliated colleges and Institutions under the domain
of the University to achieve the objectives of these
Regulations. That apart, a District Level Anti-Ragging
Committee is required to be constituted by the State
Government to be headed by the District Magistrate for
the control and elimination of ragging in institutions,
within the jurisdiction of the District.
6. Only respondent No. 4 has filed its counter-
affidavit in the present petition. From the same, it
appears that, in relation to the incident, taken note of
hereinabove, one FIR has been registered against
unknown persons, on the basis of the complaint made by
Assistant Warden, Male Hostel-I, which is neither here,
nor there.
7. Learned counsel submits that in the following
year, the very same students, who were subjected to
ragging, as reported in the 'Times of India' have
themselve resorted to ragging. Thus, it is seen that the
activity of ragging is perpetuated by each successive
batch, as if to take revenge for the torment that they
have been subjected to, by their seniors.
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8. We direct all the respondent authorities, i.e.,
respondent Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 to file their respective
affidavits. Respondent No. 5 shall disclose in its affidavit
the particulars of each and every institution in the State
imparting education at graduate, post graduate, and
professional level, and shall collect information from all
such institutions with regard to the constitution of the
Anti-Ragging Committee at the institutional levels. The
State Government shall also collect information from the
head of the institutions-whether, they are strictly
complying with aforesaid Regulations, or not. The
information so collected shall be placed before this Court
by the State Government in a tabulated form, indicating
the status of compliance / non-compliance by the
institutions. The State Government should also disclose,
whether, or not, the District Level Committees have
been constituted. If not constituted, the same should be
constituted within the next two weeks. The respondent
Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are directed to collect information from
institutions over which they exercise supervision, to
collect information with regard to the constitution of the
Monitoring Cell, and all such information should also be
provided by the said respondents in tabulated form
before this Court.
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9. We put the heads of all graduate level, post
graduate level, and professional institutions in the State
to notice, that non-compliance of the aforesaid
Regulations shall be viewed seriously, and the head of
the institution concerned, wherever acts of ragging are
found to be occurring shall be held responsible. This
order shall be communicated to all heads of institutions
by the respondent State within two weeks.
10. The affidavits be filed within the next six
weeks.
11. List the matter on 06.06.2023.
________________
VIPIN SANGHI, C.J.
_________________
ALOK KUMAR VERMA, J.
Dt: 21st MARCH, 2023
Negi
