The Supreme Court of
India Order May 2007
(based on Raghavan Committee Recommendations)
[Reproduced verbatim
from the Supreme
Court of India website]
ITEM NO.33
COURT
NO.4
SECTION XIA
SUPREME COURT OF
INDIA
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s)
for Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No(s).24295/2004
(From the
judgement and order dated 24/06/2004 in WP No. 30845/2003 of the HIGH
COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM)
UNIVERSITY OF KERALA
Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
COUNCIL,PRINCIPALS,COLLEGES,KERALA
& ORS Respondent(s)
(With appln(s) for
intervention and modification and directions and impleadment as party
respondent and with prayer for interim relief and office report)
WITH SLP(C) NO. 14356 of 2005 (With appln.(s) for exemption
from filing O.T. and c/delay in filing counter affidavit and office
report)
W.P.(CRL.) NO. 173 of 2006 (With appln.(s) for
directions and exemption from filing O.T. and urging addl. ground and
with office report)
SLP(C) NO. 24296-24299 of 2004 (With
prayer for interim relief and office report)
Date:
16/05/2007
These Petitions were
called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE
Dr. JUSTICE ARIJIT PASAYAT
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.H. KAPADIA
Mr. Gopal Subramaniam,
A.S.G. (A.C.)
Mrs. Sushma Suri, Adv.
Mr. Abhishek Tewari, Adv.
For Petitioner(s)
Mr. R. Sathish,Adv. Dr. Sushil
Balwada, Adv. Mr. Satbir Tillania, Adv. Mr. Anil Karnwal, Adv. Mr.
Prashant Kumar, Adv. Ms. Pooja Dhar, Adv. Ms. Ratna Kaul, Adv. for
M/s AP & J Chambers, Advs.
For Respondent(s)
Mr.
Ranjit Kumar, Sr.Adv. Mr. E.M.S. Anam,Adv. Mr. Fazlin Anam, Adv. Mr.
P.V. Dinesh, Adv. Mrs. Sindhu T.P.,Adv. Mr. P.V. Vinod, Adv. Mr.
Sandeep B.K., Adv Mr. KH. Nobin Singh, Adv. Mr. David Rao, Adv. Mr.
S. Biswajit Meitei, Adv. Mr. Manoj Swarup, Adv. Ms. Lalit Kohli, Adv.
for M/s. Manoj Swarup & Co., Advs. Mr. T.V. George, Adv. Mr. M.P.
Vinod, Adv. Mr. Ajay K. Jain, Adv. Mr. Sjith P., Adv. Mr. K.R.
Sasiprabhu, Adv. Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha,Adv. Mr. M.K. Michael, Adv. Mr.
M.K.D. Namboodiri, Adv. Mr. V.G. Pragasam, Adv. Mr. Shivaji M.
Jadhav, Adv. Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, Adv. For Res.1-3 & 5 in WP
173/06: Mr. Soli J. Sorabjee, Sr.Adv. Ms. Vibha Datta Makhija Mr.
Manish Kumar, Adv. Mr. Ansar Ahmad Chaudhary, Adv.
UPON hearing counsel
the Court made the following ORDER
We have perused the
Report of the Committee constituted pursuant to this Court's order to
suggest remedial measures to tackle with the problem of ragging in
educational institutions.
An elaborate report has
been submitted by the Committee headed by Dr.R.K. Raghavan. According
to the Committee, the following factors need to be focused to tackle
with the problem:
Primary responsibility for
curbing ragging rests with academic institutions themselves.
Ragging adversely impacts the
standards of higher education.
Incentives should be available
to institutions for curbing the menace and there should be
disincentives for failure to do so.
Enrolment in academic
pursuits or a campus life should not immunize any adult citizen from
penal provisions of the laws of the land.
Ragging needs to be perceived as
failure to inculcate human values from the schooling stage.
Behavioural patterns
among students, particularly potential 'raggers', need to be
identified.
Measures against ragging must
deter its recurrence.
Concerted action is required at
the level of the school, higher educational institution, district
administration, university, State and Central Governments to make
any curb effective.
Media and the Civil
Society should be involved in this exercise.
The Committee has made
several recommendations. For the present, we feel that the
following recommendations should be implemented without any further
lapse of time.
The punishment to be meted out
has to be exemplary and justifiably harsh to act as a deterrent
against recurrence of such incidents.
Every single incident of ragging
where the victim or his parent/guardian or the Head of
institution is not satisfied with the institutional arrangement for
action, a First Information Report must be filed without
exception by the institutional authorities with the local police
authorities. Any failure on the part of the institutional authority
or negligence or deliberate delay in lodging the FIR with the local
police shall be construed to be an act of culpable negligence on the
part of the institutional authority. If any victim or his
parent/guardian of ragging intends to file FIR directly with the
police, that will not absolve the institutional authority from the
requirement of filing the FIR.
Courts should make an
effort to ensure that cases involving ragging are taken up on a
priority basis to send the correct message that ragging is
not only to be discourages but also to be dealt with sternness.
In addition, we direct that the
possibility of introducing in the educational curriculum a
subject relating to ragging shall be explored by the
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and
the respective State Council of Educational Research and Training
(SCERT). This aspect can be included in the teaching of the subjects
"Human Rights".
In the prospectus to be issued
for admission by educational institutions, it shall be clearly
stipulated that in case the applicant for admission is found to have
indulged in ragging in the past or if it is noticed later that he
has indulged in ragging, admission may be refused or he shall be
expelled from the educational institution.
The Central Government and the
State Governments shall launch a programme giving wide
publicity to the menace of ragging and the consequences which follow
in case any student is detected to have been involved in ragging.
It shall be the collective
responsibility of the authorities and functionaries of the concerned
institution and their role shall also be open to scrutiny
for the purpose of finding out whether they have taken effective
steps for preventing ragging and in case of their failure, action
can be taken; for example, denial of any grant-in-aid or assistance
from the State Governments.
Anti-ragging committees
and squads shall be forthwith formed by the institutions
and it shall be the job of the committee or the squad, as the case
may be, to see that the Committee's recommendations, more
particularly those noted above, are observed without exception and
if it is noticed that there is any deviation, the same shall be
forthwith brought to the notice of this Court.
The Committee constituted
pursuant to the order of this Court shall continue to monitor the
functioning of the anti-ragging committees and the squads to be
formed. They shall also monitor the implementation of the
recommendations to which reference has been made above.
Post these matters in September, 2007 for further
directions on the recommendations received from the Committee.
I.A.No.5/2007 in S.L.P.(C) No.24295/2004:
Issue
notice.
Response, if any, by the University shall be filed
within four weeks.
Rejoinder, if any, within four weeks
thereafter. Mr. Gopal Subramaniam, learned amicus curiae shall also
indicate his views.
Writ Petition (Crl.) No.173/2006: List
this petition separately in September, 2007.
(N. Annapurna)
(Madhu Saxena)
Court Master Court Master
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THE WEST
BENGAL PROHIBITION OF RAGGING IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ACT, 2000
(The West Bengal Act XIII of 2000 )
An Act to prohibit ragging in educational
institutions in West Bengal.
Wheareas it is expedient to prohibit ragging in
educational institutions in West Bengal;
It is
enacted in the Fifty-first year of the Republic of India by the
Legislature of West Bengal, as follows:-
1. Short title, extent and
commencement.-(1) This Act may be called the West Bengal
Prohibition of Ragging in Educational Institutions, 2000.
(2) It
extends to the whole of West Bengal.
(
3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may
by notification may appoint.
2.
Definitions: In this Act,
unless the Context otherwise requires:
(1)“educational
institution” means any educational institution by whatever name
called, whether or not maintained and managed by the State
Government
recognised or deemed to
have been recognised under any law for the time being in force or,
affiliated to a
University as defined in the University Grants Commission Act, 1956
( 3 of 1956 )
(2)“notification”
means a notification published in the Official Gazette. (3)
“prescribed” means prescribed by the Rules made under this Act.
(4)
“ragging” means the doing of any act which causes, or is
likely to cause any physical, psychological or physiological harm
or apprehension or shame or embarrassment to a student, and
includes–
(a) teasing
or abusing of playing Practical joke on, or causing hurt to any
student. or
(b) asking any student to do any act,
or perform any thing, which he would not, in the ordinary course, be
willing to do or perform.
(5) “student”
means a student who has been prosecuting his study in 4an
educational institution.
3.
Prohibition of Ragging (1) Ragging
within an educational institution is hereby prohibited.
(2) No person shall participate in,
abet, or propagate, ragging in any educational institution.
Explanation :- For the purpose of this Section, educational
institution shall include--
the premises or the
campus of the educational institution, or
the hall, that is to
say, the unit of residence of students maintained by the educational
institution, if any, or
the hostel, that is to
say, the unit for the residence of students, if any, not maintained
by the educational institution but recognised under any law for the
time being in force.
4. Penalty
for Ragging.--Whoever contravenes the provisions of Section 3
shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term
which may extend to two years or with
fine which may extend to five
thousand rupees or both.
5. Dismissal
of student on conviction and bay to admission and re-admission: If
any student is convicted of an act punishable under section 4, he
shall be dismissed from the educational institution in which he has
been prosecuting his studies for the time being, and shall not be
re-admitted to that educational institution.
6. Expulsion
of student:-without prejudice
to the foregoing provisions of this Act where a
student complains of ragging by any other student to the head of the
educational Institution or to any other person responsible for the
management of the educational institution, such head of the
educational institution shall forthwith inquire into the complaint
and and if, on such inquiry the complaint is found to be true, he
shall expel the student, who has committed the
offence, from the educational institution.
7. Constitution
of Committee.- Notwithstanding anything contained in section 5
and 6, any student dismissed under section 5 or expelled under
section 6 may appeal in the prescribed manner to the Committee to be
constituted by the State Government in the manner prescribed, and
the decision of the Committee on such appeal shall be final.
8. Failure
or negligence to comply with the provisions of section 6.--(1)
If the head of the educational institution or the person responsible
to the management of the educational institution fails or neglects
to comply with the provisions of section 6, a complaint of such
failure may be made to the Committee constituted under section 7, by
the student who complains of ragging under section 6 or by his
guardian.
Explanation:-
“Guardian” shall mean a person having the care of the student or
any other person who has been declared to be the guardian of the
student in the record, if any, maintained by the educational
institution.
(2)
On receipt of the complaint under sub-section (1), the Committee
shall hold such inquiry as it my deem fit and shall make its
recommendations to the such managing committee or the governing body
of the educational institution or such authority, as the Committee
considers appropriate and, the managing committee or the governing
body as the case may be, shall take action in accordance with the
recommendations as aforesaid.
9. Act
to have overriding effect.-- The provisions of this Act shall have
effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent in any other law for
the time being in force.
10. Power
to make rules.-- (1) The State Government may by notification make
rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
(2) All
rules made under this Act shall, unless some later date is appointed
in the State Government, come into force on the date of publication
in the Official Gazette.
(Note:-The West
Bengal Prohibition of Ragging in Educational Institutions Act, 2000
(W.B. Act XIII of 2000 was published in ‘The Calcutta Gazette’,
Extraordinary, published by Authority on Monday, May 29, 2000)
