NEW DELHI: The human resource development (HRD) ministry is likely to move to the Cabinet a proposal to restore the reservation policy in appointing teaching staff at universities. “A Cabinet note has been circulated and we are hoping that it will go to the Cabinet soon. We have tried to address the issue by suggesting a university-wise reservation instead of department or institute-wise faculty quota reservation,” a senior HRD Ministry official said.
Since July this year, there have been no appointments in Central universities due to non-clarity on the issue and a few days back the Allahabad High Court had said that non-decision in the matter cannot be a ground to stall recruitments.
In October 2017, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had introduced rules, making reservation applicable at the department level instead of at the university level. The UGC rules had followed an Allahabad High Court order of April 2017.
The new UGC rules had led to protests across universities, with professors and critics saying that such a move will deprive many candidates of reserved category of jobs.The ministry is awaiting the hearing of a petition on faculty reservation in the Supreme Court. The ministry moved court to reverse the high court verdict.