Resignation of senior bureaucrat amplifies backlash against UGC’s new anti-discrimination framework
Bareilly city magistrate Alankar Agnihotri resigned from service on Monday, 26 January, citing deep disagreement with government policies — particularly the newly introduced University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations — officials said.
Agnihotri, a 2019-batch Uttar Pradesh Provincial Civil Service officer, e-mailed his resignation to the governor and to Bareilly district magistrate Avinash Singh. A native of Kanpur Nagar, Agnihotri has previously served as sub-divisional magistrate in Unnao, Balrampur and Lucknow, and was regarded in administrative circles as outspoken and strict in matters of work.
In his resignation note, Agnihotri wrote that when governments adopt policies which “divide society and the nation”, it becomes necessary to “awaken” them. He described the new UGC rules as a “black law”, claiming they were vitiating the academic climate in colleges and must be rolled back immediately.
The regulations in question — formally titled the UGC Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026, notified on 13 January — require universities and colleges to establish equity committees, helplines and monitoring systems to address caste-based discrimination. According to the UGC, the objective is to create safer and more inclusive campuses for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC) students, following repeated reports of harassment and exclusion.
However, the rules have drawn strong pushback from sections of general category students and some academics who argue that the framework risks reverse discrimination, incentivises adversarial grievance processes, and burdens institutions with compliance obligations without clear evidentiary standards.
