The Supreme Court on Thursday directed all higher education institutions (HEIs) across the country to report any suicide or unnatural death of a student to the police authorities as soon as they come to know about the incident.
Issuing a slew of directions, the top court said the HEIs cannot shirk away from their fundamental duty to ensure that their institutions as a whole are safe, equitable, inclusive and conducive spaces of learning.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan also directed the HEIs to submit an annual report of student suicides or unnatural deaths to the University Grants Commission (UGC) and all other relevant regulatory bodies for professional courses.
"All HEIs must report any incident of suicide or unnatural death of a student, regardless of the location of its occurrence (i.e. on campus, hostels, PG accommodations, or otherwise outside the institutional premises), to the police authorities no sooner than they come to know about the incident. This should cover all students, irrespective of whether they are studying in the classroom, distance or online mode of learning," the bench said.
In case of central universities and institutes of national importance or any HEI that does not fall within the above-mentioned framework, it must be reported to the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, government of India, it said.
The apex court ordered that every residential HEI must have access to qualified medical help round-the-clock, if not on campus, then within a one-km radius to provide emergency medical health support to students.
"Keeping in mind the faculty shortages which have been reported in several HEIs, both public and private, it must be ensured that all vacant faculty positions (both teaching and non-teaching) be filled within a period of four months, with priority given to posts reserved for candidates from marginalised and underrepresented communities including those posts reserved for PwDs (persons with disabilities)," the bench said.
Special recruitment drives may be held for faculty recruitment that come under various forms of reservations according to central and state government rules, it added.
Observing that student suicide represents only the visible tip of a much larger iceberg of student distress and well-being, the top court said appointment and filling of vacancies of the post of vice chancellors, registrars and other key institutional and administrative positions must also be made within a period of four months.
Moreover, it must be ensured as a matter of practice that these positions are filled within a period of one month from the date on which the vacancy arises in order to ensure the smooth functioning of HEIs, it said.
"All HEIs must report on an annual basis to the central and relevant state governments, as to how many reserved posts are vacant, how many are filled, reasons for non-filling, time taken, etc., so that periodic accountability is ensured.
"The backlog of any and all pending scholarship disbursements must be cleared within a period of four months by the relevant central and state government authorities," the bench said.
The apex court also said that it must be ensured that the disbursement of all future scholarships are done with clear timelines, without any delay by the relevant central and state government authorities.
"Disbursal of dates and schedules must also be made known to the student recipient. Even in cases of unavoidable administrative delay, HEIs must not, as a policy, make the student recipients accountable for paying or clearing their fees.
"No student should be prevented from appearing in an examination, removed from hostels, barred from attending classes, or have their marksheets and degrees withheld because of delays in disbursal of scholarships. Any such institutional policy may be viewed strictly," the bench said.
It directed all HEIs to remain fully compliant with all the regulations that have a binding effect on them, including inter alia, the UGC Regulation on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009 and other related provisions.
The top court directed that the sample registration system data on suicides, especially those falling within the age group of 15-29 years, must be centrally maintained for better and more accurate estimates of deaths by suicide of students in HEIs.
The apex court had last year constituted a National Task Force (NTF) to address the mental health concerns of students and prevent incidents of suicides and said the duty of colleges was not just to ensure academic excellence of the students but also their mental well-being.
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