HYDERABAD: A Parliamentary panel has flagged delays in filling existing vacant SC/ST-reserved faculty posts in University of Hyderabad (UoH).

A report on the implementation of reservation policy in HCU submitted to Parliament by the Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of SCs and STs stated that currently SCs account for 14 per cent and STs for six per cent of total teaching staff, which is below the constitutionally mandated 15 per cent for SCs and 7.5 per cent for STs. The committee, in its report, recommended that no faculty seat reserved for SCs and STs should remain vacant for more than six months under any circumstances.

There are a total of 419 teaching staff, including professors, associate professors and assistant professors, in the UoH, which is also known as the Hyderabad Central University (HCU). Of this, 59 faculty members (14 per cent) and 25 staff (6 per cent) belong to SC and ST communities respectively.

The committee said that “inadequate representation of SCs and STs in teaching faculty in such a premier educational institution points to a failure somewhere down the line in the educational system whereby students from the reserved categories are not able to come up to such educational standards required to be selected for the posts of professors, associate professors and assistant professors”.

The Parliamentary panel also expressed serious concern over the university using “candidates not found suitable” for filling the posts reserved for SCs and STs. It indicates a lax attitude in faculty recruitment of SC and ST candidates, the committee said, while disapproving the continued use of ‘not found suitable’, describing it as a “demoting” factor toward SC and ST candidates.

Creating doubts on selection procedure

“The universities normally do not have transparent, documented reasons for declaring candidates ‘unsuitable’ implying that such decisions are vulnerable and create doubt on selection procedure or merit-based evaluation. In the absence of tangible proof like video recording of the interview held, the committee is of the considered view that the decision of ‘not found suitable’ may raise some doubts in the mind of disqualified candidates,” it said.

“The committee also calls for mandatory video recording of the entire interview process and documentation of reasons for rejection to be reviewed by oversight bodies, whenever doubts are expressed by the aggrieved or reviewing authority. The committee, therefore, desires transparency in selection processes to protect the interest of SC and ST aspirants to become part of the faculty,” it added.

This story has been written by Manda Ravinder Reddy.