University of Kerala vs Council, Principals' Colleges, Kerala and Others

University of Kerala ...Appellant

Versus

Council, Principals' Colleges, Kerala and Ors. ...Respondents

JUDGMENT

Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.

1. Directions have been given from time to time to see that the ugly scar

of ragging is obliterated from the face of educational institutions. Mr. Gopal

Subramaniam, learned amicus curiae, Mr. P.P. Rao, Mr. Altaf Ahmed and

others appearing in the matters have given suggestions which we have

considered. Keeping in mind the recent incidents of ragging which have

surfaced, and which have been dealt with by this Court, it becomes

necessary that the following recommendations made by the Raghavan

Committee be implemented immediately, namely:

(i) Recommendation No. 5.14: "We also recommend that every

institution should engage or seek the assistance of professional

counselors at the time of admissions to counsel `freshers' in

order to prepare them for the life ahead, particularly for

adjusting to the life in hostels...";

(ii) Recommendation No. 5.16: "We recommend that on the

arrival of senior students after the first week or after the second

week as the case may be, further orientation programmes must

be scheduled as follows (i) joint sensitization programme and

counseling of both 'freshers' and senior by a Professional

counselor; (ii) joint orientation programme of 'freshers' and

seniors to be addressed by the principal/Head of the institution,

and the anti -ragging committee ; (iii) organization on a large

scale of cultural, sports and other activities to provide a

platform for the 'freshers' and seniors to interact in the presence

of faculty members ; (iv) in the hostel, the warden should

address all students; may request two junior colleagues from the

college faculty to assist the warden by becoming resident tutors

2 for a temporary duration; and , the UGC and other funding

bodies should provide financial grants for meeting the

expenditure on resident tutors (v) it is strongly recommended

that as far as possible faculty members should dine with the

hostel residents in their respective hostels to instill a feeling of

confidence among the fresh residents.";

(iii) Recommendation No.5.18: "We recommend that every

institution must have an Anti-Ragging Committee and an Anti -

Ragging Squad. It is essential to have a diverse mix of

membership in terms of levels as well as gender in both the

Anti - Ragging Squad as well as the Anti - Ragging Committee.

The Anti - Ragging Committee at the level of the institution

should consist of the 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 seniors, non - teaching staff

and should be headed by the Head of the Institution. The Anti -

Ragging Squad, in contrast, should be a body with vigil,

3 oversight and patrolling functions and should appropriately by a

smaller body which should be nominated by the Head of the

Institution with such representation as considered necessary to

keep it mobile, alert and active at all time. The Squad may be

called upon to make surprise raids on hostels and other hot

sports and should be empowered to inspect places of potential

ragging. . The Squad should work under the overall guidance of

Anti- Ragging Committee. The Squad should not have any

outside representation and should only consist of members

belonging to the various sections of the campus community."

(iv) Recommendation No. 5.28: "At the level of the District, we

recommend a District level Anti - Ragging Committee, which

should consist of the Heads of Higher Education Institutions as

members. It should be headed by the District Collector / Deputy

Commissioner / District Magistrate and should also have the

Superintendent of Police / SSP of the District as member. The

Additional District Magistrate should be a member - secretary

of the Committee, which should also have representation of the

local media and district level Non Government Organizations

4 actively associated in youth development programmes, as well

as representations of all student organizations. The District

level Committee should hold preparatory meetings during the

summer vacation meetings to take stock of the state of

preparedness of each institution and their compliance with the

policies and directions or guidelines of the appropriate bodies,

the university/State/ Central authorities; and this Court's

guidelines in regard to curbing the menace of ragging. We have

already emphasized on the need for publicity campaigns,

summer months may be appropriate to launch such campaigns.

Some of the role expectations from the District level

Committees have already been mentioned in the preceding

paragraphs dealing with activities at the level of Schools as well

as higher education institutions and therefore are not being

repeated."

(v) Recommendation No. 5.29: "We have thought through the

suggestion that the District level Committee, should function as

some sort of an appellate forum to the action taken by the

institution level Anti - Ragging Committee. We feel that this is

5 neither necessary nor desirable. It is not necessary in the

context of the recommendation that we propose to make in

respect of, the scheme of penalty later in this Chapter. It is not

desirable from the point of view that such a mechanism lends

an extra - campus dimension to the tackling of intra-campus

disciplinary matter. All matters of discipline within teaching

institutions, in our opinion, must be resolved within the campus

- except those impinging on law and order or breach of peace or

public tranquility, all of which should be dealt with under the

penal laws of the land; fortifying of which is being suggested

by us later on."

(vi) Recommendation No. 5.30: "At the level of the University,

we recommend that there should be a Monitoring Cell on

Ragging, which should coordinate with the affiliated colleges

and institutions under its domain. The Cell should call for

reports from the Heads of institutions in regard to the activities

of the Anti-Ragging Committee, Anti - Ragging Squads,

Monitoring Cells at the level of the institution, the compliance

with instructions on conducting orientation programmes,

6 counseling sessions, the incidents of ragging, the problems

faced by wardens or other officials. It should also keep itself

abreast of the decisions of the District level Anti - Ragging

Committee. This Monitoring Cell should also review the

efforts made by institutions o publicize anti - ragging measures,

soliciting of undertaking from parents and students each year to

abstain from ragging activities or willingness to be penalized

for violations; and should function as the prime mover for

initiating action on the part of the appropriate authorities of the

university for amending the Statutes or Ordinances or Bye -

laws to facilitate the implementation of anti-ragging measures

at the level of the institution."

(vii) Recommendation No. 5.31: "At the State level, we

recommend that there should be a Monitoring Cell at the level

of the Chancellor of the State Universities, who may also

coordinate with those of the Central Government institutions

located in the State in which the Governor has a defined role

under the relevant law. Governors, in their capacity as

Chancellors of State Universities, can leverage the influence of

7 their office to ensure that the State Government as well as the

university authorities are suitably instructed to be alert in regard

to ragging. The involvement of Governors would also ensure

that the autonomy of institutions of higher learning is not

compromised. In addition, Governors of States are associated

with Central Universities in their role as Chief Rector

/Chancellor etc. and can oversee the function of coordination

where required vis-a- vis the office of the President of India in

his capacity as the Visitor of the Central Universities and also

the Central Government in the Ministry of Human Resource

Development. The State level Monitoring Cell should receive

periodically, and at such frequencies that it may law down,

status reports from the University level Monitoring Cells and

Districts level Anti - Ragging Committees."

(viii) Recommendation No. 5.22:. "We recommend that in the,

light of the increasing number of private commercially

managed, lodges or hostels outside campuses, such hostels and

management must be registered with the local police authorities

and permission to start such hostels or register them must

8 necessarily be recommended by the Heads of educational

institutions. It should be mandatory for both local police, local

administration as well the institutional authorities to ensure

vigil on incidents that may come within the definition of

ragging. Managements of such private hostels should be

responsible for non-reporting of cases of ragging in such

premises. Local authorities as well as the institutional

authorities should be responsible for action in the event of

ragging in such premises, just as they would be for incidents

within campuses. The Committee also recommends that besides

registering private hostels as stated above, the towns or cities

where educational institutions are located should be

apportioned as sectors among faculty members, as is being

done by some institutions, so that they could maintain vigil and

report any incidents of ragging outside campuses and en route

while 'freshers' commute."

(ix) Recommendation No. 5.27: "Wardens must be accessible at

all hours and therefore it is important that they, be available on

telephone and other modes of communication - therefore, we

9 recommend that wardens must be issued mobile phones by the

institutions and the details of their telephone number must be

widely publicized. Similarly, the telephone numbers of the

other important functionaries - Heads of institutions, faculty

members, members of the anti-ragging committees, district and

sub-divisional authorities and state authorities where relevant,

should also be widely disseminated for the needy to get in touch

or seek help in emergencies. The Committee recommends that

brochures or booklet/leaflet distributed to each student at the

beginning of each academic session for obtaining undertaking

not to indulge or abet ragging, shall contain the blueprint of

prevention and methods of redress."

The educational institutions shall ensure that each hostel

should have a full-time warden who resides within the hostel, or

at the very least, in the close vicinity thereof. State of Himachal

Pradesh has submitted that the creation of a separate cadre for

warden would not be beneficial for this purpose. But it is

desirable that institutions should provide necessary incentives

for the post of full-time warden, so as to attract suitable

10 candidates. It has been pointed out that UGC, in its Draft

Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging; has also

provided accordingly.

(x) Recommendation No. 5.43: "The committee recommends

that at the national level, the UGC should fund, a toll - free

Helpline which could be accessed by students in distress owing

to ragging related incidents. The Ministry of Communication

and Information Technology should facilitate the establishment,

infrastructure and operation of the proposed Helpline. Any

distress message should be simultaneously relayed to the Head

of the Institution, warden or officer of the Hostels, District

authorities including the Superintendent of Police, and should

be web-linked so as to be in the public domain simultaneously

for the media and citizens to access it. A genuine message of

distress from the victim of ragging should make it obligatory

for the Head of the institution and civil authorities to initiate

action on the lines already suggested by us."

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2. Learned amicus curiae has submitted that the Ministry of Human.

Resource Development, Government of India, in consultation with UGC,

MCI, AICTE and other similar regulatory bodies is in the process of setting

up a central crisis-hotline and anti-ragging database in the manner suggested

by Dr. Rajendra Kachroo to the Raghavan Committee and the UGC. The

task of monitoring the database be given to a nongovernmental agency, to be

immediately nominated by the Union of India to build confidence in the

public and also to provide information of non compliance to the regulatory

bodies and to the Raghavan Committee. The database shall be created out of

affidavits affirmed by each student and his/her parents/guardians, which

affidavits shall be stored electronically, and shall contain the details of each

student. The database shall also function as a record of ragging complaints

received, and the status of the action taken thereon;

3. The Draft Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging, formulated

by the UGC, should be implemented with the urgency it deserves and to be

adopted by .all other regulatory bodies, such as AICTE, MCI, DCI, NCI etc.;

4. The recent incident involving the death of Aman Kachroo clearly

indicates that the formulation of guidelines and regulations is not sufficient.

Such regulations shall have to be enforced strictly, and penal consequences

12 for the heads of the institutions/administration of the institution who do not

take timely steps in the prevention of ragging and punishing those who rag.

In addition to penal consequences, departmental enquiries be initiated

against such heads institutions / members of the administration / faculty

members / non-teaching staff, who display an apathetic or insensitive

attitude towards complaints of ragging;

5. Not only the students, but also the faculty who must be sensitized

towards the ills of ragging, and the prevention thereof. Non-teaching staff,

which includes administrative staff, contract employees, security guards etc.,

have also to be regularly sensitized towards the evils and consequences of

ragging;

6. The Principal or Head of the Institution/Department shall obtain an

undertaking from every employee of the institution including teaching and

non-teaching members of staff, contract labour employed in the premises

either for running canteen or as watch and ward staff or for cleaning or

maintenance of the buildings/lawns etc. that he/she would report promptly

any case of ragging which comes to his/her notice. A provision shall be

made in the service rules for issuing certificates of appreciation to such

13 members of the staff who report ragging which will form port of their

service record;

7. It is seen, that college canteens and hostel messes are also places

where ragging often takes place. The employers/employees of the

canteens/mess shall be given necessary instructions to keep strict vigil and to

report the incidents of ragging to the college authorities if any;

8. Each batch of freshers should be divided into small groups and each

such group shall be assigned to a member of the staff. Such staff member

should interact individually with, each member of the group on a daily basis

for ascertaining the problems/difficulties if any faced by the fresher in the

institution and extending necessary help. By building up rapport with each

member of the group teachers or other members of the staff would be able to

infuse confidence in the freshers and make them feel at home so as to enable

them to report incidents of ragging or bullying. Each group in-charge shall

maintain a diary of his/her interaction with the freshers under his/her charge;

9. In the case of freshers admitted to a hostel it shall be the responsibility

of the teacher in charge of the group to coordinate with the warden of the

hostel and to make surprise visits to the rooms in the hostel where the

members of the group are lodged;

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10. Freshers shall be lodged in a separate hostel block, wherever possible,

and where such facilities are not available, the college/institution shall

ensure that seniors' access to freshers' accommodation is strictly monitored

by wardens, security guards and college staff;

11. A ragging takes place mostly in the hostels after the classes are over

in the college. A round the clock vigil against ragging in the hostel premises

shall be provided;

12. It is necessary that parents/guardians of freshers assume responsibility

for promptly bringing to the notice of the Head of the Institution any

instance of ragging;

13. Chancellor of the Himachal Pradesh University in consultation with

the Raghavan Committee shall as a part time measure appoint a Committee

to oversee the implementation of directions given in this order.

14. Keeping in mind the seemingly violent history of RPGMC, a

detachment of police be posted on the RPGMC campus till such time the

Committee is satisfied of the maintenance of discipline on campus.

15. Departmental proceedings shall be initiated against the erstwhile

principal of RPGMC, Dr. Suresh Sankhyan to ascertain his role in

15 exacerbating ragging on campus, as well as his suitability as a faculty

member and administrator. State of Himachal Pradesh, in its affidavit, has

stated that such proceedings have been commenced against Dr. Sankhyan,

and that a charge.-sheet is expected to be issued to him presently;

16. The SHO/SP, within whose jurisdiction a particular college falls, shall

be responsible for ensuring that no ragging takes place on the campus of the

concerned college, and to effectively deal with incidents of ragging, should,

any such incidents take place. Once a central database/crisis hotline is made

operative then as soon as SHO/SP, within whose jurisdiction a particular

college falls, is contacted by the crisis hotline staff, then such SHO/SP shall

deal effectively with the incident and cooperate and communicate with the

crisis hotline staff and/or the independent monitoring agency. This will build

confidence and encourage people to report incidences of ragging without

fear or delay;

17. Dr. Rajendra Kachroo; Dr. S. S. Shilwant, Asst. Professor of Law,

Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, shall assist Raghavan Committee,

to provide a linkage between the Committee's efforts, and the non-

governmental anti-ragging movement;

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18. Once the database/crisis hotline (as described in Recommendation No.

I(x) above) is operative, State Governments shall amend their anti-ragging

statutes to include provisions that place penal consequences on institutional

heads;

19. A committee be appointed comprising one or more eminent

psychiatrists/psychologists/mental health specialists, a documentary maker

and educationalists from various fields, to (i) ascertain the psychological

impact of ragging on students; (ii) to ascertain reasons and circumstances

under which senior students resort to ragging; (iii) assess and quantify the

impact of ragging and indiscipline on the standard of education in an

institution and relate it to the existing procedures used by MCI, UGC and

other regulatory bodies to assess the suitability of an institution for

recognition; and (iv) recommend urgent and mandatory mental health

measures to be implemented in, and practiced by school, colleges, and all

educational and vocational institutions, so as to aid the occurrence of

ragging. For the present following shall be members of this committee:

(a) D . Shobna Sonpar, Clinical Psychologist, New Delhi;

(b) Dr. Shekhar Sheshadri, Professor of Child Psychiatry,

NIMHANS, Bangalore;

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(c) Dr. Mohan Rao, Professor of Social Sciences, JNU New Delhi;

and

(d) Dr. Amit Sen, Child Psychiatrist, Sitaram Bhartia Institute of

Science & Research, New Delhi.

20. A separate committee be constituted immediately to examine the

problem of alcoholism on the RPGMC campus, and to suggest immediate

de-addiction measures. The following eminent mental health experts shall be

members of this committee:

(a) Dr. Anju Dhawan, Associate Professor, Psychiatry, All India

Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi;

(b) Dr. Sameer Malhotra, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry,

AIIMS, New Delhi; and

(c) Dr. Prakash Saran, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, AIIMS,

New Delhi.

21. In each State, Committees in the line indicated above shall be

constituted to undertake the exercise detailed above.

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22. Compliance reports shall be filed within four months. List after four

months.

........................................J. (Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT)

........................................J. (ASOK KUMAR GANGULY) New Delhi, May 08, 2009

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