No suicide reports from 3,522 universities, colleges: UGC

NEW DELHI: The UGC informed SC Friday no incident of suicide was reported from central, state, private and deemed universities as well as colleges even as petitioners, mothers of two students who died by suicide, claimed that IITs, IIMs and national law universities have not given data in this regard.
The UGC affidavit was placed before an SC bench by solicitor general Tushar Mehta who said the information was collected from 45 central, 293 state, 269 private and 103 deemed universities as well as 2,812 colleges in various states.
For petitioners Abeda Salim Tadvi and Radhika Vemula, mothers of two students who died by suicide, senior advocate Indira Jaising said IITs, IIMs and NLUs, where reports of suicidal death of students have been reported have not responded to the UGC's request for data on such incidents as well as complaints about caste-based discrimination.
The affidavit said 1,503 caste-based discrimination complaints were filed by students, of which 1,426 have been addressed. Mehta said an expert committee, tasked to revisit existing UGC regulations on the promotion of SC/ST/OBC/PwD and minority communities in higher educational institutions, has submitted draft UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2025.