Draft Guidelines On ‘De-Reservation’ Creates Controversy, Government Issues Clarification
After the UGC released draft guidelines that asked for public feedback and suggestions on reservation, controversy erupted on a specific chapter in which the national higher education regulator discussed about de-reservation in the reserved categories. The document titled “Implementation of the Reservation Policy of the Government of India in Higher Education Institutes (HEIs)” was released on December 28 last year and set the deadline of January 28 for suggestions from the public.
The guidelines have suggested that if a vacancy reserved for SC or ST or OBC cannot be filled by a candidate other than an SC or ST or OBC candidate, this vacancy may be declared unreserved by following a procedure of de-reservation.
When reports on the suggestions of the UGC guidelines from an expert committee, which was constituted to prepare the guidelines for the implementation of the reservation policy of the government in universities or deemed to be universities, colleges, and other grant-in-aid institutions and centres in the country, invited criticism the government and the UGC have now come up with clarifications.
“Reservation in Central Educational Institutions (CEI) is provided for all posts in direct recruitment in Teacher’s cadre as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019. After enactment of this Act, no reserved post is to be de-reserved. Ministry of Education has given directives to all the CEIs to fill up the vacancies strictly as per the 2019 ACT,” the ministry of education said today in a clarification.
UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar has also come up with a similar statement to dash cold water on the issue, since any move by government or agencies to touch reservations rights in India has serious political ramifications.
“This is to clarify that there has been no de-reservation of reserved category positions in Central Educational Institutions (CEI) in the past and there is going to be no such de-reservation. It is important for all HEIs to ensure that all backlog positions in reserved category are filled up through concerted efforts,” the UGC chairman said in an X post.
“This is to clarify that there has been no de-reservation of reserved category positions in Central Educational Institutions (CEI) in the past and there is going to be no such de-reservation. It is important for all HEIs to ensure that all backlog positions in reserved category… https://t.co/ApGNX8YWHy
— UGC INDIA (@ugc_india) January 28, 2024
Reacting to the draft, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury called it retrograde and asked for its withdrawal.
“Most retrograde step in line with the Manuvadi anti Dalit, anti Adivasi social structure promoted by the Modi regime. By declaring no SC/ST qualifies, positions are de-reserved to perpetuate caste based oppression. Withdraw this Draft,” Mr Yechury wrote on X.
The de-reservation guidelines
The guidelines have said that there is a general ban on de-reservation of reserved vacancies in case of direct recruitment. “However, in rare and exceptional cases when a vacancy in a Group A” service cannot be allowed to remain vacant in public interest, the University concerned may prepare a proposal for de-reservation of the vacancy giving following information: Designation of the post; Pay scale of the post; Name of the service to which the post belongs; Duties and responsibilities attached to the post, Educational and other qualifications prescribed for the post; Efforts made to fill up the post; Reasons why it cannot be allowed to remain vacant, Justification for de-reservation; and Any other relevant information.”
The guidelines have also said the proposal for de-reservation in case of Group ‘C’ or ‘D’ should go to the executive council of the university and in case of Group ‘A’ or ‘B’ should be submitted to the ministry of education, giving full details, for necessary approval. “After receiving the approval, the post may be filled and reservation may be carried forward,” the document said.
In case of promotion, the guidelines have also suggested, if sufficient numbers of SC or ST candidates fit for promotion against reserved vacancies are not available, such vacancies may be de-reserved and filled by the candidates of other communities. “The power to accord approval to de-reservation of the reserved vacancies in such cases is delegated to UGC or Ministry of Education, subject to the following conditions;- 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 (s) 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 by the appropriate authority in UGC/ Ministry of Education; and 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 & Training is obtained and implemented,” the UGC document said.
In an accompanying public notice, the UGC said the main purpose of constituting the expert committee is to prepare and review the reservation guidelines of 2006, which are in operation.
