Universities Must Follow UGC Rules, Says Supreme Court

The court noted that BHU adopted UGC 2010 Regulations and once adopted, the rules remain in force unless the university shifts to a different framework.

Supreme Court its recent judgement has underlined that universities cannot pick and choose when it comes to following norms set by University Grants Commission (UGC). The apex court said that the rules framed by regulator are binding on institutions that have adopted them and must be applied consistently in recruitment and academic processes.

The SC ruling came while the bench was dealing with a challenge to the 2013 assistant professor recruitment at Banaras Hindu University (BHU). The petitioners had questioned weightage system used for academic records, teaching skills, and interviews, arguing that BHU’s method did not match the formula laid out in UGC Regulations, as reported by Live Law.

People familiar with university hiring pointed out that dispute is not unusual. Many institutions, they said, adopt UGC Regulations but end up tweaking some parts over years often because committees rely on older practices. “This judgment places everything back in black and white. If a university accepts UGC rules, it has to follow them fully,” one person with knowledge of faculty recruitment processes said.

The court noted that BHU had formally adopted the UGC’s 2010 Regulations in August 2010 and once adopted, the rules remain in force unless the university shifts to a different framework. The bench said subsequent amendments to the Regulations also apply automatically, leaving no room for selective implementation.

SC order is expected to have an impact on pending or ongoing faculty selections in various state and central universities. Institutions that had been operating with mixed procedures will now have to align their methods with whichever UGC Regulation was in force at the time of advertisement or selection. Several universities are likely to review their past processes to avoid fresh legal challenges.