Sadakathullah Appa College, Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu, India.

GRIEVANCES AND REDRESSAL CELL

Students Grievance Redressal Committee (SGRC)

Following the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Regulations for Redressal of Grievances of Students, 2023 (notification date: April 11, 2023), Students’ Grievance Redressal Committee (SGRC) has been formed in order to fulfil and resolve the increasing legitimate expectations of the students in terms of Academic and Non-Academic affairs so that the College may constantly improve its service rules, standards and capabilities. Sadakathullah Appa College expects all its offices and employees to maintain high standards of integrity and transparency in their working conditions with students. This committee will consider student grievances in accordance with the UGC regulations under sub section (1) of section 26 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 (3 of 1956). Anyone with a genuine grievance may mail their grievance to the Secretary of the College Managing Committee (secretary@sadakath.ac.in).

Objective:

The objective of the Grievance Redressal Committee is to develop a responsive and accountable attitude among all the stakeholders in order to maintain a harmonious educational atmosphere in the College. A Grievance Redressal Committee has been constituted for the redressal of the problems reported by the students of the College with the following objectives:

To develop an organisational framework to facilitate the students access to an immediate and hassle-free recourse to have their grievances redressed
To uphold the dignity of the College by ensuring strife-free atmosphere in the College through promoting cordial student-student relationship and student- teacher relationship
To encourage the students to express their grievances / problems freely and frankly, without any fear of being victimized
To enlighten the students on their duties and responsibilities
To establish structured interactions with students to improve services with regard to academic and administrative processes.
To identify systemic flaws in the design and administration of various services provided in various offices on the campus and to seek solutions.
To advise the students to respect the right and dignity of one another and show utmost restraint and patience whenever any occasion of rift arises

Grievances of the aggrieved students may include the following complaints:

Grievances relating to examinations.
On provision of student amenities as may have been promised or required to be provided by the institution
Denial of quality education as promised at the time of admission or required to be provided
Non transparent or unfair evaluation practices
Harassment and victimization of students including sexual harassment
Grievances relating to scholarships or financial aid admissible to a student
Failure by the institution to provide student amenities as set out in the prospectus, or is required to be extended by the institution under any provisions of law for the time being in force
Complaints of alleged discrimination of students from the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Women, Minority or persons with disability categories

Definition

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) "Act" means the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 (3 of 1956)
(b) "Aggrieved student" means a student, who has any complaint in the matters relating to or connected with the grievances defined under these regulations
(c) "College" means any institution, so defined in clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 12A of the Act
(d) " Student Grievance Redressal Committee" (SGRC) means a committee constituted under these regulations, at the level of an institution, being a college
(e) "Commission" means the University Grants Commission established under section 4 of the UGC Act, 1956
(f) "Grievance" means, and includes, complaint(s) made by an aggrieved student

Composition of the Students Grievance Redressal Committee (SGRC):

1. A complaint from an aggrieved student relating to a college shall be addressed to the Student Grievance Redressal Committee (SGRC) with the following composition, namely:

(a) The Dean of Students’ Affairs (Ex-Officio) - Chairperson
(b) Ex-Officio Members - Principal of the College, The Vice-Principal, The Coordinator of the IQAC)
(c) Three Professors/Senior Faculty Members to be nominated by the Principal – Members
(d) Two representatives from among students – Chairman and Secretary of the Students’ Union of the College -Special Invitees

2. The term of the members and the special invitee shall be two years.

3. The quorum for the meeting including the Chairperson, but excluding the special invitee, shall be three.

4. The SGRC shall send its report with recommendations, if any, to the Secretary of the College Managing Committee and a copy thereof to the aggrieved student, within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of the complaint.

5. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Grievance Redressal Committee may within a period of six days prefer an appeal to the Ombudsman.

6. The Grievance Redressal Committee shall have a term of two years.

The Students Grievance Redressal Committee (SGRC) Members for the period 2023-2025

Sl. No.	Composition	Name	Designation	Remarks
1	A Professor as Chairperson	Dr. A. Hamil	Head, Department of Commerce and Dean of Students’ Affairs (Ex- Officio Member)	Chairperson
2	Ex-Officio Members	Dr. S.M. Abdul Kader	Principal	Members
		Dr. S.M.A. Syed Mohamed Khaja	Vice-Principal
		Dr. A. Syed Mohamed	IQAC Coordinator
3	Three Professors/ Senior Faculty Members (At Least one member shall be a woman and at least one member shall be from SC/ST/OBC category)	Dr. A. Shahul Hamid	Head, Department of Computer Science	Members
		Dr. K. Hema	Assistant Professor of English
		Dr. R. Janet Rani	Head, Department of Microbiology
4	Student Representatives (Ex-Officio)	R. Thajudeen, I M. Com	Chairman, Students’ Union	Special Invitees
4	Student Representatives (Ex-Officio)	M . I. Sumaya, III B.A. English	Secretary, Students’ Union	Special Invitees
5	Ombudsman	Dr. K.Senthamarai Kannan	Rtd. Prof. and Head, Dept. of Statistics, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.	Member

Powers and functions of Ombudsman –

The Ombudsman shall exercise his powers to hear the grievance of any student against the College after the student has availed of remedies available in such institution for redressal of grievance.

No application for revaluation or remarking of answer sheets shall be entertained by the Ombudsman unless specific irregularity materially affecting the outcome or specific instance of discrimination is indicated.

Procedure in redressal of grievances by Ombudsman and Grievance Redressal Committee

(1) Each College shall establish a registry, headed by an employee of the institute of appropriate rank as the Ombudsman may decide, where any aggrieved student or person may make an application seeking redressal of grievance.
(2) The address of the registry so established shall be published widely including on the notice board and prospectus and placed on the website of the institution.
(3) On receipt of an application by the registry, the employee in charge shall inform the Ombudsman or the Grievance Redressal Committee, as the case may be, shall immediately provide a copy to the institution for furnishing its reply within seven days.
(4) The Grievance Redressal Committee, as the case may be, shall fix a date for hearing the complaint which shall be communicated to the institute and the aggrieved person either in writing or electronically, as may be feasible.
(5) An aggrieved person has to appear in person.
The Ombudsman or the Grievance Redressal Committee, as the case may be, shall ensure disposal of every application as speedily as possible and not later than 15 days of receipt of the grievance.
(6) The College shall cooperate with the Ombudsman or the Grievance Redressal Committee, as the case may be, in redressal of grievances and failure to do so may be reported by the Ombudsman to the Commission.
(7) On the conclusion of proceedings, the Ombudsman or the Grievance Redressal Committee, as the case may be, shall pass such order, with reasons for such order, as may be deemed fit to redress the grievance and provide such relief as may be desirable to the affected party at issue.
(8) Every order under sub regulation (9), under the signature of the Ombudsman or the Grievance Redressal Committee, as the case may be, shall be provided to the aggrieved person and the College and shall be placed on the website of the institution.
(9) The College shall comply with the recommendations of the Ombudsman or the Grievance Redressal Committee.
(10) Any order of the Ombudsman or the Grievance Redressal Committee, as the case may be, not complied with by the College shall be reported to the Commission.
(11) Any order of the Ombudsman or the Grievance Redressal Committee, as the case may be, not complied with by the College shall be reported to the Commission.
(12) In case of any false or frivolous complaint, the Grievance Redressal Committee may order appropriate action against the complainant.

Information regarding Ombudsman Grievance Redressal Committee to be published in prospectus

The college concerned shall provide detailed information regarding provisions of Grievance Redressal Committee, Ombudsman and the duties and rights of students in their prospectus prominently.