As Indian Institutes of Technology across the country start campus placements, a complaint has been filed with the Education Ministry, Social Justice Ministry and the National Commissions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, alleging that the Placements Office at IIT-Kanpur was allowing recruiting companies to discriminate against prospective candidates based on their caste or socio-economic category.
The incident highlighted in the complaint related to application forms circulated by a company called Merilytics on the campus’ placements portal. In the forms, seen by The Hindu, the company required applicants to mandatorily fill in the “General” ranks secured in both the JEE-Mains and JEE-Advanced stages, which prompted students from reserved categories to flag the issue.
Dheeraj Singh, an IIT Kanpur alumnus, said he filed the complaint with the IIT -Kanpur Director, concerned Ministries and the National Commission for SCs on Tuesday after the incident was brought to his notice by a student who is part of a mentorship programme he and other alumni are currently running.
