UGC faces protest over quota rule in teacher recruitment

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students on Wednesday demanded scrapping of the rules that stipulates for giving 26% reservation to OBCs in the recruitment of assistant professors only.

While protesting outside the University Grants Commission (UGC) office, they also demanded for OBC quota in promotion of the university teachers and increase in the number of fellowships for students belonging to OBC.

A delegation led by JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar later submitted a memorandum to the higher education regulator. All the leftist students unions supported the protest held amid heavy deployment of police around the UGC office.

The UGC regulations stipulates that 26% reservation will be given to candidates belonging to OBCs only in recruitment of assistant professors, not that of associate professors and professors. The students described the UGC’s regulations as “discriminatory.”

The OBC quota is applicable at all levels of faculty recruitment in many premier institutions including Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in department of humanities, social sciences and management.

However, the OBC reservation is limited to recruitment of assistant professors' science and technology disciplines in the IITs and other technical institutions.

“Why is it discriminatory?” they said, threatening to intensify their protest if the Commission does not accept their demands.

The students also demanded for scrapping of a provision in recruitment rules where university can disqualify an OBC candidate from recruitment of faculties by just putting in records “not found suitable.”

The issue of OBC quota in recruitment has created concern within the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry as the students have picked up the issue to corner the UGC at a time when the BJP was gearing up for Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

According to sources, senior officials of the Ministry held a meeting on Tuesday evening and asked the UGC to issue a clarification after Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Yadav also picked up the the issue and accused the Narendra Modi government of taking away 26% reservation assured to OBCs in faculty recruitment.