The University Grants Commission (UGC) will soon launch a single-window for submitting grievances by merging the different portals and helplines that exist currently, with the aim to fastrack their resolution as well as monitor institutes that are slow in responding to them.
The portal is called ‘UGC e-samadhan’ and will be available 24x7. It will also provide a toll free number (1800-1110656) for various stakeholders to lodge complaints.
Existing platforms such as Students Grievance Portal, Scholarship and Fellowship Portal and PG Portal, as well as different helplines such as Covid-19 Helpline, Scholarship Helpline, National Scholarship Portal Helpline and Saksham Helpline will be merged with the new portal.
Specific timelines have also been laid down for addressing the grievances registered at the portal, such as 10 days for responding to student-related issues, 15 days for complaints pertaining to teaching and non-teaching staff, and 20 days for problems related to Universities and Colleges.
“The UGC has wide stakeholders, including 1,043 Universities, 42,343 colleges, 3.85 crore students and 15.03 lakh teachers. Because of non-availability of a single-window system, the stakeholders were lodging multiple complaints at various places due to which the redressal mechanism was at a slow pace,” UGC Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar explained.
He added that the new platform will also help in identifying institutions that were not responding to the complaints as well as in framing future policies and regulations.
The grievances will have to be reviewed on a daily basis at the level of the Bureau Head, and on weekly basis by the Secretary or Chairman of the UGC.
The UGC receives complaints ranging from admission-related matters, salary payment, disbursal of scholarships, appointment of Vice-Chancellors and complaints of discrimination from students and faculty, among others.
