The mothers of Rohit Vemula and Dr. Payal Tadvi have approached the Supreme Court to create a mechanism in campuses to end caste based discrimination.

The petition states that not only are instances of discrimination prevalent but they are further supplemented by antipathy from the institutions themselves. No independent mechanisms have been provided to deal with the issue of caste based discrimination. Such instances are a clear failure of the State in protecting the fundamental rights of the citizens.

The UGC, (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012 also do not provide for any such mechanism. The petition seeks that firstly the HEI regulations are strictly enforced and the equal opportunity cells should include members of the SC/ST communities and representatives from NGOs to ensure impartiality.