Lucknow: Emphasising that the language and spirit of any law should be explicit, Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said the furore over new UGC regulations was not about the law alone but the intentions behind its implementation as well. He said now that the Supreme Court is seized of the matter, there was little that could be done but to follow the decision of the apex court. “Justice to one cannot be injustice to the other and honourable courts ensure just that,” Akhilesh said hours after the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026 on Thursday on grounds that they were “too sweeping” and needed a closer look. Akhilesh said it was time to retrospect what happened to the regulations passed in 2012 on the same issue, find out the flaws and the highpoints and go ahead from there. The Supreme Court on Thursday said, for the time being, related UGC regulations introduced in 2012 would continue to be in force. “It is not only about the law and its legal provisions alone. It is also about the intentions behind framing the law and its implementation. Despite clear cut provisions in the Constitution of India, innumerable laws and Acts have been framed over the years. Still, there is discrimination and injustice. The bottom line should be that the guilty should not be spared and the innocents should not be meted out with injustice,” the former UP CM said in Noida. Taking on the BJP led government at the Centre, the SP chief said in the President’s parliament address, tall claims were made that India has the world’s largest network of metro trains but the fact remains that despite a metro project being approved for prime minister’s parliamentary constituency of Varanasi and budget set aside by the erstwhile Samajwadi Party govt, the BJP government in UP has set aside the project.
