SU shall appoint Ombudsperson for redressal of grievances of students as per the UGC Regulations, 2023.
There shall be one or more part-time functionaries designated as Ombudspersons to hear, and decide on, appeals preferred against the decisions of the committee.
The Ombudsperson shall be a retired Vice-Chancellor or a retired Professor (who has worked as Dean/HOD) and has 10 years’ experience as a Professor at State/Central Universities/Institutions of National Importance/Deemed to be Universities or a former District Judge.
The Ombudsperson shall not, at the time of appointment, during one year before appointment, or in the course of his/her tenure as Ombudsperson, be in conflict of interest with SU where his/her personal relationship, professional affiliations or financial interest may compromise or reasonably appear to compromise, the independence of judgment towards SU.
The Ombudsperson shall be appointed for a period of three years or until he/she attains the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier, from the date of assuming office, and shall be eligible for reappointment for another one term.
For conducting the hearings, the Ombudsperson shall be paid a sitting fee, per diem, in accordance with the norms of SU and shall, in addition, be eligible for reimbursement of the expenditure incurred on conveyance.
SU may remove the Ombudsperson from office, on charges of proven misconduct or misbehaviour.
No order of removal of Ombudsperson shall be made except after an inquiry made in this regard by a person, not below the rank of a retired judge of the High Court in which a reasonable opportunity of being heard is given to the Ombudsperson.
Functions
The Ombudsperson shall hear appeals from an aggrieved student, only after the student has availed all other remedies provided under this policy.
While issues of malpractices in the conduct of examination or in the process of evaluation may be referred to the Ombudsperson, no appeal or application for revaluation or re-totalling of answer sheets from an examination, shall be entertained by the Ombudsperson unless specific irregularity materially affecting the outcome or specific instance of discrimination is indicated.
The Ombudsperson may avail assistance of any person, as amicus curiae, for hearing complaints of alleged discrimination.
The Ombudsperson shall make all efforts to resolve the grievances within a period of 30 days of receiving the appeal from the aggrieved student(s).