Kerala High Court asks Law Secretary and Cabinet Secretary to appear unless progress is made on draft anti-ragging amendment Bill

The Kerala High Court has informed the State government that the Law Secretary and the Cabinet Secretary will have to appear before the court unless “satisfactory progress” is made in the finalisation of the draft Kerala Prohibition of Ragging (Amendment) Bill.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice C. Jayachandran recently observed that the State was unable to inform the court the current status of the draft Bill, and that it had not yet been placed before the Cabinet for approval, despite specific directions in this regard.

Upon the court’s request, the Election Commission of India had approved a Cabinet meeting to finalise the draft Bill during the State Legislative Assembly elections. After the formation of the new State government, three weeks were given to the State to take steps on the draft Bill on June 10. The court observed that the matter has been pending for more than a year. 

The petition was filed by the Kerala State Legal Services Authority to combat the “increasing brutality and violence in ragging” in educational institutions across the State, by strengthening the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1998. 

The draft Bill had proposed constituting anti-ragging committees, squads and mentoring cells in all educational institutions, in addition to anti-ragging cells at police stations. Upon receiving information or complaint, the head of the institution should, within 24 hours, determine whether a prima facie case is made out to register an FIR and act accordingly. The anti-ragging committee should include faculty members, non-teaching staff, senior students and freshers, parents, representatives of civic and police administration, local media, and NGOs involved in youth affairs, led by the head of the institution.