UGC tagging us as 'defaulter' over ombudsman unfortunate: MP varsity

Days after the University Grants Commission termed 16 universities from Madhya Pradesh defaulters for failing to appoint ombudsmen to address student grievances, one of them called the move unfortunate and said they have already complied with the requirement.

Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication (MCU) said it has appointed retired Chief District and Sessions Judge Om Prakash Sunarya as its adjudicator (ombudsman).

MCU appointed Sunarya as ombudsman for three years from the date of his joining after following UGC guidelines, the varsity said in a statement. Sunarya was appointed the ombudsman on June 6 and he took charge the next day, it said.

In the press note, the MCU Vice Chancellor Prof (Dr) K G Suresh termed unfortunate the move of the UGC to include the university in its defaulters' list released on June 19.

We had completed the process two months back but due to the model code of conduct (for Lok Sabha polls), the notification could not be issued. We issued the notification on June 7 and informed UGC on June 13 but to our shock and surprise, we found our name in the list issued by UGC on June 19, he said in the statement.

Prof Suresh said they have written to the UGC secretary requesting him to update the list after removing MCU from it.

According to sources in the MP education department, the UGC had notified the Redressal of Grievances of Students Regulations 2023 on April 11 last year and requested the universities across the countries to appoint ombudspersons within 30 days.

It sent reminders to the universities to comply with its directive. On January 17, eighteen universities from MP figured in the UGC's defaulters' list, they said.

In the latest UGC list of June 19, nine private and seven government universities from the state figured, suggesting that two varsities had appointed ombudspersons after the January list.