Nainital: The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the Centre, the state government, and the National Medical Commission (NMC) to file affidavits detailing measures taken to prevent ragging in higher educational institutions, including professional and medical colleges.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice G Narendra and Justice Subhash Upadhyay, hearing a public interest litigation, also asked the state government whether it was in the process of enacting a specific law to curb ragging.

The state government informed the court that there have been no recent reports of ragging in any college or medical institution. However, the petitioner's counsel alleged that false affidavits were being submitted to mislead the court. The bench directed the petitioner to file a reply affidavit and posted the matter for next hearing on November 17.

In earlier proceedings, the high court had instructed the government to form district monitoring committees headed by district magistrates and to establish anti-ragging cells in all universities.

The court had also made it clear that the head of each institution bears the responsibility for ensuring compliance with anti-ragging measures, warning that they would be held accountable if any incident of ragging occurs on campus.