The All India Other Backward Classes Students Organisation (AIOBCSA) has flagged the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Agra over a couple of its decisions with regards to the reserved categories in admissions and faculty recruitment.
The state university issued a notification this week calling for faculty recruitment for the posts of Professor, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor through its official website. The varsity set the application fee via Demand Draft for the General and OBC category at Rs 1500, for the Economically Weaker Sections at Rs 1000 and for the SC/ST category at Rs 500. The AIOBCSA has raised concern over the application fee of Rs 1,500 for OBC candidates, and has asked if it is justifiable. Speaking with Edexlive, Kiran Kumar, the National President of the AIOBCSA said, "This is purely a lapse in decision-making from the administration. The Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar should be held responsible."
Kumar said that the varsity was violating social justice by not considering OBC candidates under the non-preliminary certificate. According to a commission formed by the central government and chaired by Justice Ram Nandan Prasad in 1993, the non-creamy layer of the OBC are eligible for various relaxations in the application and appointment processes run by central and state governments.
However, in a chat with Edexlive, a senior official at the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University, formerly known as Agra University said, "Though we are a state university, we handle our own expenses, and we need to collect these fees in order to manage those."
However, the recruitment process wasn't the only area where concerns were raised with regards to the university's approach towards the reserved categories. The university recently announced the cut-off list for admission into PhD programmes after a round of entrance test and counselling at the beginning of the month. In this list, the cut-off under Hindi is set at 114 points for OBC, 90 points for the SC/ST category, and at 76 points for the general category. The cut-off being lower for the general category when compared to the reserved category students has raised some eyebrows, with the AIOBCSA calling it an injustice.
The official from the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University said that this isn't an anomaly, and cut-offs are set based on how many students have applied and qualified. "For example, if we have more students from the OBC category qualifying in the 50 per cent seats set for the general category, then the cut-offs will be set accordingly," the official shared with Edexlive.
Commenting on discrimination against the OBC category in universities in India, Kumar says that it is a recurring event. "The UGC should clearly share the rules and regulations with all universities in order to avoid such incidents," he added.
