UGC order on hiring faculty: Government to inform varsities of decision to file SLP

Stopping short of withdrawing UGC’s controversial formula for calculating reservation in teaching jobs, the Union government is set to inform all universities about its decision to file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court order, which paved the way for the new formula.

The HRD Ministry, which approached the apex court last Thursday, will ask the UGC to communicate the development to all higher education institutions in a bid to nudge them to put their recruitment process on hold.

“We want universities to keep the SLP in mind before deciding to go ahead with recruitment,” said a ministry official.

Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) in Madhya Pradesh and Central University of Tamil Nadu are two universities that have advertised vacant teaching posts this month, based on the UGC’s new formula of March 5.

On March 5, UGC issued a notification announcing that the number of reserved faculty posts across universities and colleges shall be calculated department-wise and not based on the aggregate vacant posts in a university. The order sparked a row as it could shrink the number of SC, ST and OBC teachers in higher education.

Reservation based on department or subject as a unit, according to the UGC notification last month, meant that departments with single post cadres — usually the position of a professor — will be outside the purview of reservation.

Citing an example using the new formula, experts say departments with two or more faculty posts but less than 15 in a cadre, will have only one reserved for an SC candidate at serial number 7 and for an ST candidate at serial number 14. So if a department has only six associate professor-level posts, none will be reserved for SC and ST candidates. Reservation will only be implemented through rotation, which experts say could take years.

In the first concrete proof of how UGC’s order could shrink the number of SC, ST and OBC teachers, IGNTU advertised 52 vacant positions on April 8 of which only one was reserved for OBC candidates and none for SCs and STs. Of the 65 posts advertised by Central University of Tamil Nadu, only two seats over 20 were set aside for OBCs, none for SCs and STs.
News Source (Indian Express)