Overview

• About 57,000 of roughly 58,000 higher-education institutions have not answered the National Task Force questionnaires despite four reminders.
• The bench asked the Union government to resend its compliance circular and cautioned that non-cooperators could face adverse orders and reputational damage.
• A list to the court names 17 IITs, 15 IIMs, 16 AIIMS and 24 NITs among those yet to respond, with only about 3,500 institutions filing replies.
• The task force, led by retired Justice Ravindra Bhat, is probing drivers such as ragging, discrimination, academic pressure, financial strain and mental-health stigma.
• Data-gathering continues with more than 100,000 individual responses and site visits, while the court also flagged missing state nodal officers and delays in scholarships for Scheduled Caste students.