NEW DELHI, Jan 28: The Ministry of Education (MoE) on Sunday clarified that no reserved posts can be de-reserved after draft guidelines by the University Grants Commission (UGC) proposed that any vacancy reserved for SC, ST and OBC candidates can be declared unreserved if enough candidates from these categories are not available.
The Guidelines for Implementation of the Reservation Policy of the Government of India in Higher Education Institutes (HEIs)’ are in the public domain for feedback from stakeholders.
The draft guidelines have drawn flak from several quarters.
The Congress alleged there is a “conspiracy” to end reservation given to SCs, STs and OBCs in posts in higher education institutions and that the Modi government is only doing “politics of symbolism” on the issues of Dalits, backward classes and tribals.
“Reservation in Central Educational Institutions 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 wrote on X.
The UGC chairman also posted: “This is to clarify that there has been no de-reservation of reserved category positions in Central Educational Institutions 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 the reserved category are filled up through concerted efforts.”
According to new draft guidelines by the UGC: A vacancy reserved for SC or ST or OBC cannot be filled by a candidate other than an SC or ST or OBC candidate, as the case may be.
“However, a reserved vacancy may be declared unreserved by following the procedure of de-reservation where after, it can be filled as an unreserved vacancy.
“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 the following information: The proposal will be required to list — efforts made to fill up the post; reasons why it cannot be allowed to remain vacant and justification for de-reservation,” the draft guidelines said.
In case of promotion, if sufficient numbers of SC and 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, draft guidelines added. (PTI)
