Fewer takers for ombudsman

Updated on: Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Union human resource development ministry’s order mandating constitutions of ombudsman in all private higher educational institutions has drawn mixed reaction from administrators of the institutions, stating that HRD should not link approvals and recognitions with ombudsman orders which have no legal binding.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal announced that the mechanism, which would come into effect from the ensuing academic session, requires every institution to appoint an ombudsman.

Students of management and technical institutions, Central and deemed-to-be universities will benefit from it apart from teachers of educational institutions under the National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE), he said.

The ombudsman would deliver the order within a month. Though the order would not be binding on the institution, the regulator would rely on the frequency of non-observance of the order to decide on continued recognition to such institutions, said a statement of the ministry.

The ombudsman will handle all student-related grievances except service-related issues concerning teachers and has jurisdiction to hear grievances concerning denial of admission, non-observance of declared merit in admission and non-observance of applicable regulations for reservation.

Prof S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, dean (planning and development), Sastra University, said ombudsman is an administrative law requirement for government institutions and to insist all private institutions to have one has no legal sanction as there needs to be an ombudsman between the government and students to redress all their issues.

He said more administration meant more mal-administration and, hence, there was no need for ombudsman in private institutions. Prof Vaidhyasubramaniam pointed out that statutory bodies like UGC, MCI, AICTE, NCTE, etc., do not have an ombudsman so where was the necessity for it in private institutions?

The dean said to consider approvals and recognitions based on compliance of the proposed ombudsman’s orders was a colourable exercise of power as approvals and recognitions were statutory provisions and cannot be linked to ombudsman orders which have no legal binding.

SRM university vice-chancellor, Prof M. Ponnavaiko, said they have already appointed an official as ombudsman in their institution and his job was to redress students’ grievances. “He acts as a bridge between the management and students. When students bring issues to his notice, he would re-direct the complaints to the respective officials, so there should be no problem in appointing a person as ombudsman,” he said.

Fewer takers for ombudsman

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