No reserved post can be unreserved: Education Ministry clarifies on UGC draft guidelines

Facing criticism over the University Grants Commission’s recently released draft guidelines proposing to “de-reserve” reserved posts in faculty recruitment in “rare and exceptional cases”, the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) on Sunday evening clarified its stand on this issue. No reserved post can be unreserved.

UGC also directed all central educational institutions to fill the vacancies strictly as per the reservation norms of the Central Government.

UGC, which is the higher education regulator, had in November last year put out draft “Guidelines for Implementation of Reservation Policy of the Government of India in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)” in the public domain for feedback from stakeholders.

Under the guidelines, UGC has proposed to de-reserve the posts reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC) candidates if sufficient such candidates are not available. remain empty. The draft rule on non-reservation of seats was widely criticized by teachers and students and was termed as “killing the ethos of social justice”.

Several students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) also protested against the order on Sunday, prompting the university’s Vice Chancellor Shantisree D Pandit to issue a statement.

The Education Ministry issued a statement on Twitter in the Is provided for. After the implementation of this Act, no reserved post will be unreserved. The Education Ministry has directed all CEIs to fill the vacancies strictly as per the 2019 Act.

The draft norms state that there is a general restriction on reservation of vacancies reserved in case of direct recruitment. “However, in rare and exceptional cases when a vacancy in Group A service cannot be allowed to remain vacant in public interest, the university concerned may prepare a proposal for reservation of the vacancy,” read the draft guidelines.

It also said that in case of Groups C and D, de-reservation would go to the Executive Council of the University, while in case of Groups A and B, it should be sent to MOE.

Meanwhile, UGC Chairman M Jagadish Kumar also issued a statement on the issue, saying: “It is to be clarified that there has been no reservation of reserved category posts in the Central Education Institutions (CEIs) in the past and is going to be Is.” There is no such de-reservation. It is important for all higher education institutions to ensure that all backlog posts in reserved categories are filled through concerted efforts.

However, the draft guidelines on reservation in HEIs on the UGC website also propose that in case of promotion, if sufficient number of SC/ST candidates are not available for promotion against reserved post vacancies, such posts shall be declared as ‘non-reserved’. ‘ can be done. ‘And filled by candidates from other communities. The power to approve it will remain with MoE.

According to UGC officials, the draft norms have not been finalized yet and hence nothing from it can be implemented yet.