NEW DELHI: A BJP parliamentarian has protested a new formula adopted by the University Grants Commission to fill reserved posts of teachers in universities and colleges that is likely to reduce the reservation by nearly half. Udit Raj, who represents north-west Delhi in the Lok Sabha and is a prominent Dalit face of the BJP, has demanded that the decision be withdrawn.
The UGC, in a notification, said that reservation for socially backward sections in faculties in universities and colleges would now be implemented by treating each department or subject as a unit instead of grouping posts in an institution as a whole.
This new notification meant that a 13-year-old guideline on the matter will now be discarded.
The new rule, said sources in the UGC, is based on an Allahabad High Court judgment, upheld by the Supreme Court in July. The April 2017 judgment ruled in favour of reservations being implemented department-wise.Such a change will hurt the reserved category candidates, particularly in departments that have fewer than, for example, 12 teaching posts.