CHENNAI: After a 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 TNIE 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 document that puts together various Acts and SC judgments on reservation. The final version will not have de-reservation provisions,” Kumar said.
The UGC draft, first reported by TNIE on Sunday, 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 post cannot be allowed to remain vacant in public interest, the university concerned may prepare a proposal for de-reservation of the vacancy.”
The UGC, in a separate post on ‘X’ on Sunday, quoting its 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. All HEIs must ensure that backlog positions in reserved categories are filled up through concerted efforts.”
After TNIE broke the story, ‘#Cateist_UGC’ hashtag started trending on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) with nearly 35,000 tweets on Sunday. The Union Ministry of Education has also responded to the TNIE report.
Murder of reservation, says DMK minister
“ReservatATion in 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 CEIeis to fill up the vacancies strictly as per the 2019 Act,” the union education ministry said. Several political parties slammed the UGC. "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.
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 institutes. This would be a death knell to social justice, he said.
‘Murder of reservation’
“There are allegations that reserved seats are being given to general candidates. BJP is now institutiona lising it. This is murder of reservation,” says DMK