UGC Suggests De-Reserving Faculty Posts in Universities if Reserved Candidates are Unavailable

NEW DELHI: According to new draft guidelines put out by the University Grants Commission (UGC), a vacancy reserved for ST, SC and OBC candidates in higher educational institutions can be declared as unreserved in the event that sufficient candidates from such categories are not available to fill the posts. ‘Guidelines for Implementation of the Reservation Policy of the Government of India in Higher Education Institutes’ has been made public by the UGC for the purpose of garnering feedback from the relevant stakeholders. Thus far, the new guidelines have stoked considerable controversy online, with the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) announcing a protest against the same.

The new guidelines note that while there is a general ban on the de-reservation of reserved vacancies in case of direct recruitment, a university may prepare a proposal for the de-reservation of such vacancies in ‘rare and exceptional’ cases where a vacancy in a Group A service cannot be allowed to remain in the interest of the public. In the event that such a proposal must be prepared, the UGC guidelines instruct that it must contain details about the efforts made to fill a reserved post, why it cannot be allowed to remain vacant, justification for the de-reservation, designation of the post, payscale, name of the service to which the post belongs to, duties and responsibilities and the qualifications required for the post. 

The guidelines state that de-reservation proposals in the case of Group C or D should be sent to the executive council of the university and proposals for Group A or B should be sent directly to the Ministry of Education. Only after receiving express approval can a post be de-reserved and subsequently filled.

This de-reservation proposal also applies to promotions, with the guidelines stating if sufficient numbers of candidates from reserved categories fit for promotion are not available, then such vacancies may be de-reserved and filled by candidates from other communities. The power to approve de-reservation in such cases will lie with the UGC and the Ministry of Education if certain conditions are met.

“The proposal can be considered if no candidate belonging to the category for which the vacancy is reserved is available within the zone of consideration or extended zone of consideration or eligible for promotion in the feeder cadre specified in the recruitment rules.”

"The approval for de-reservation has been seen and concurred in by the liaison officer for SC, ST of the university. The proposal for de-reservation is agreed upon by the appropriate authority in UGC and the Ministry of Education.

"In case of disagreement between the appointing authority and the liaison officer for SC, ST of the university, the advice of the Department of Personnel and Training is obtained and implemented," the guidelines added.   

With inputs from PTI.