Universities in Andhra, Telangana Fail to Set Up Grievances Redressal Committees

It seems like universities in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are not complying with the norms of the University Grants Commission (UGC). Five years ago, UGC issued regulations for setting up Grievances Redressal Committees (GRCs) in all the universities across the country. However, varsities in AP and Telangana have not taken measures to set up GRCs on their respective campuses.

On December 06, 2016, the UGC had once again reminded the varsities to set up GRCs within four months from the date of direction. UGC also released detailed procedure and guidelines for selecting members of GRCs. According to UGC (Grievances Redressal) Regulations 2012, either retired professors or former judge must head the GRC of a university. It is the responsibility of the universities to ensure the similar kind of mechanism in affiliated colleges.

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UGC also directed the varsities to disclose the details of GRC regarding admission prospectus and official website. So far, not even a single university or affiliated college in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana constituted GRC. Universities like JNTU Kakinada and JNTU Hyderabad are taking ad-hoc measures to resolve complaints pertaining to ragging and discipline.

In many cases, students of Sri Venkateswara University and Andhra University had lodged their complaints through the official website of UGC. So far, only a few complaints have been resolved and many of them are still pending.

Already, Andhra and Telangana have Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee, that is confined only for fixing of fee for different courses. However, these committees do not give enough importance to all the guidelines of UGC.

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Commenting on the irregularity in constituting GRC, a senior faculty member at Osmania University revealed that giving effect to all the provisions of UGC would give a tough time to both colleges and universities.

Through GRC, students can lodge complaints against colleges or universities for the delay in payment of scholarships, non-payment of scholarships, delay in conducting exams, delay in declaring the results, failure in providing quality education and lack of basic amenities. GRCs have the authority to impose fines on universities and colleges to compensate loss incurred by students.