Ministry of Education, UGC Issue Clarifications Amidst Controversial Draft on De-reservation

Education Ministry issued a statement where it stated: “Reservation in Central Educational Institutions (CEI) is provided for all posts in direct recruitment in Teacher’s cadre as per the Central Educational Institutions"

In response to growing concerns over a draft proposing de-reservation of reserved seats in centrally run higher education institutions (HEIs), the Ministry of Education and the University Grants Commission have issued statements to address the issue.

Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of UGC, unequivocally affirmed, "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. It is important for all HEIs to ensure that all backlog positions in reserved categories are filled up through concerted efforts."

This comes after AIOBCSA expressed its concerns over the draft guidelines for the Implementation of the Reservation Policy of the Government of India in HEIs. The association strongly opposed the proposal, stating it could potentially violate the recruitment process, calling it anti-Constitution and against social justice.

Education Ministry issued a statement where it stated: “Reservation in Central Educational Institutions (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. Ministry of Education has given directives to all the CEIs to fill up the vacancies strictly as per the 2019 ACT.”

What the Draft says on De-Reservation

As per the UGC Draft, 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 given below, where after, it can be filled as an unreserved vacancy.

De-reservation in case of Direct Recruitment

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 following information:

(i) Designation of the post;

(ii) Pay scale of the post;

(iii) Name of the service to which the post belongs;

(iv) Duties and responsibilities attached to the post,

(v) Educational and other qualifications prescribed for the post;

(vi) Efforts made to fill up the post;

(vii) Reasons why it cannot be allowed to remain vacant,

(viii) Justification for de-reservation; and

(ix) Any other relevant information.

The proposal for de-reservation in case of Group ‘C’ or ‘D’ should go to the Executive Council of the University and in case of Group ‘A’ or ‘B’ should be submitted to the Ministry of Education, giving full details, for necessary approval. After receiving the approval, the post may be filled and reservation may be carried forward.

De-reservation in case of Promotion

In case of promotion, if sufficient numbers of SC/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. The power to accord approval to de-reservation of the reserved vacancies in such cases is delegated to UGC /Ministry of Education, subject to the following conditions;-

(i) No candidate belonging to the category for which the vacancy is reserved is available within the zone of consideration or extended zone of consideration or eligible for promotion in the feeder cadre (s) specified in the Recruitment Rules.

(ii) The approval for de-reservation has been seen and concurred in by the Liaison Officer for SC/ST of the University.

(iii) The proposal for de-reservation is agreed by the appropriate authority in UGC/ Ministry of Education.

(iv)In case of disagreement between the appointing authority and the Liaison Officer for SC/ST of the University, the advice of the Department of Personnel & Training is obtained and implemented.