The University Grants Commission on Friday told the Supreme Court that it had come out with draft guidelines to combat caste bias in colleges and universities, in connection with a petition about students being driven to suicide by caste harassment.

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UGC, said the regulatory body had issued draft guidelines for the establishment of equal opportunity centres at higher educational institutions to oversee the enforcement of anti-discrimination policies and programmes.

“Once the UGC’s hands are strengthened, it will go in the right direction. We will deal with the issue... let the stakeholders give their response. We are looking to create a robust mechanism where these issues can be considered,” Justice Surya Kant assured senior advocate Indira Jaising, who appeared for the petitioners.

The bench of Justices Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh said the court, too, was “looking to create a robust mechanism” to combat caste discrimination on campuses.

The bench was hearing a joint public-interest petition filed in 2019 by the mothers of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula and resident doctor Payal Tadvi, who committed suicide on their campuses after allegedly suffering caste victimisation.

Vemula, an Ambedkarite PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University, died in January 2016. Tadvi, a tribal woman, killed herself in her hostel room at the TN Topiwala National Medical College, Mumbai, in May 2019 leaving behind a note naming three doctors and accusing them of harassing her.

On September 20, 2019, the top court issued notices to the Centre, UGC and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

Mehta on Friday said the UGC’s proposed guidelines took care of most of the petitioners’ concerns and had been uploaded on the regulatory body’s website, with stakeholders asked to send their feedback.

“Only after the guidelines take the form of an authority (law), we are contemplating giving them (the UGC) some directions,” Justice Kant said.

The matter will be heard again after eight weeks.

On January 3, the apex court had directed the UGC to furnish data relating to caste-bias complaints received at central, state and deemed universities. It also sought the number of institutions that had set up equal opportunity cells, as mandated by the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations 2012.

It directed the Centre and the NAAC to submit affidavits on the steps taken for the enforcement of the statutory guidelines against caste discrimination on campuses.

The petitioners have said that Vemula’s and Tadvi’s suicides were not isolated incidents and alleged “rampant prevalence” of caste discrimination at higher educational institutions across the country. They have sought directions to the Centre and the UGC to ensure the enforcement of the 2012 regulations.

They have also sought the establishment of equal opportunity cells on campuses with representation from the SCs, STs and NGOs.

The petitioners want universities to take strong disciplinary action against those who victimise students and staff over their caste.