Two reports a year sounds harmless until you watch what it rewards. Under the 2026 Regulations, each HEI must run an Equal Opportunity Centre, keep an online portal, operate a 24x7 Equity Helpline, appoint Equity Ambassadors, and file biannual reports by end of January and July. That is a lot of apparatus, and apparatus has a known failure mode: it optimises for compliance metrics, not lived equity. The counterargument is obvious: without structure, complaints vanish into the dean's drawer, so structure is the point. I agree with the need for a structured path, including the 24-hour meeting requirement and the 15 working days report, because time is the enemy of justice. But structure without precision becomes noise, and noise becomes a weapon. If the Supreme Court says the rules are vague enough to be misused and keeps them in abeyance till March 19, take that as a design review, not a political win. Define discrimination with examples, standardise evidence thresholds, and protect against retaliation and against malicious filing, both are real risks. Otherwise we will get a new lab report every semester and the same old hierarchy in the corridor.
