After nationwide backlash for the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) draft guidelines on procedure for de-reservation of vacancies in higher education institutions (HEIs), UGC Chairman M Jagadeesh Kumar told The New Indian Express that de-reservation will not find a place in the final guidelines.
"This is only the draft and not the final guidelines. This is a comprehensive document that puts together various acts and Supreme Court judgments on reservation. The final version (of the guidelines) will not have de-reservation provisions," Jagadeesh Kumar said, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
The commission, in a separate post on 'X' quoting the chairman, said, "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 categories are filled up through concerted efforts."
Similarly, the Union Ministry of Education also responded to the TNIE report, stating, "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. The Ministry of Education has given directives to all the CEIs to fill up the vacancies strictly as per the 2019 ACT."
The draft guidelines of the UGC, which was first reported by TNIE on Sunday, January 28, had said, "There is a general ban on de-reservation of reserved vacancies (for SCs, STs, and OBCs) in case of direct recruitment. However, in rare and exceptional cases when a vacancy in a Group A service (post) cannot be allowed to remain vacant in public interest, the university concerned may prepare a proposal for de-reservation of the vacancy."
All the recations
After TNIE broke the story, '#Cateist_UGC' hashtag was trending on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) with nearly 35,000 tweets on Sunday. "This is the true face of BJP's slogan of 'development for all.' While there is continuous accusation that the seats reserved for SCs, STs, and OBCs are given to general candidates, the BJP is now trying to institutionalise it. There are several reserved posts unfulfilled in central government departments. This is murder of reservation," said DMK’s Mano Thangaraj, Minister for Milk and Dairy Development, on social media.
Organisations, including Neelam, also condemned the move. PMK founder Dr Ramadoss in a statement said if the draft guidelines are accepted, it would mean that reservation has been abolished in recruitment for higher education institutions. This would be a death knell to social justice, he said. “The argument that non-availability of eligible persons from SC/ST/OBC backgrounds, leading to subsequent dereservation of seats, raises significant concern regarding the basic principles of social justice,” said DMK MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian.
