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Supreme Court of India Orders HEIs to Report Student Deaths and Ensure Round-the-Clock Medical Care

The binding order implements a national task force’s recommendations to make institutions answerable for student well-being.

Overview

  • All higher-education institutions must immediately notify police of any student suicide or unnatural death, regardless of location, and submit annual incident reports to the UGC and relevant regulators.
  • Every residential campus must provide 24/7 access to qualified medical help either on site or within a one-kilometre radius.
  • Vacant posts of vice-chancellor, registrar, and faculty must be filled within four months, with priority for reserved categories and a practice of filling new vacancies within one month.
  • Scholarship backlogs must be cleared within four months, and institutions cannot bar exams, classes, or hostel access or withhold marksheets and degrees due to delayed disbursals.
  • Authorities must strengthen data and compliance by centrally maintaining SRS suicide data for ages 15–29, directing NCRB to separate higher-education cases from school data, ensuring adherence to binding UGC rules, and having the Centre and states communicate the order to HEIs.