Karnataka’s Rohith Vemula Act stuck in red tape while proposed UGC regulations on caste discrimination on college campus stayed by Supreme Court

Karnataka's Rohith Vemula Act remains delayed amid Supreme Court's stay on UGC regulations, igniting renewed debates on caste discrimination on college campuses.

For the last two years, the Congress-led government of Karnataka has moved slowly on implementation of the Karnataka Rohith Vemula (Protection of SC/STs from Caste Discrimination in Higher Educational Institutions) Bill 2025. The legislation was a promise in the Congress manifesto for 2024 Lok Sabha polls and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in 2025 calling for enacting the law at the earliest. 

The debate on the proposed law has again come to the forefront after the Supreme Court of India stayed the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations 2026, followed by agitations both for and against the regulations. The Rohith Vemula Act in Karnataka was supposed to be implemented much before the UGC regulations, but is on the backburner. 

Mavalli Shankar, State Convenor, Karnataka Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, said the Samiti plans to petition the Chief Minister this week, demanding enactment of the law in the upcoming budget session of the Karnataka legislature. “According to UGC statistics, atrocities against SC/ST students on campuses have increased by 118.4% in the last five years. These students need proper legal protection to pursue higher education with dignity, and the Rohith Vemula Bill 2025 is a solution to this issue. On the one hand, UGC regulations have been stayed, and, on the other, the Congress government in Karnataka is unnecessarily delaying enactment of the Rohith Vemula Act,” he said. 

The debate over whether only SC and ST students should be brought under its ambit, or students from other oppressed communities should also be included under the purview of the law, has delayed its enactment, sources said. 

After the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit Ph.D. scholar at Hyderabad Central University, on January 17, 2016, due to caste-based discrimination, there was a clamour from students and parents for implementation of the Rohith Vemula Act to address discrimination against students from SC-ST communities in higher educational institutions.

A draft of the Bill prepared by the Law, Justice and Human Rights Department, Government of Karnataka, proposed to safeguard the right to education and dignity of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and minorities. It can be recalled that even the recent UGC Equity Regulations included all four communities under its ambit.