The Joint Action Council of College Teachers of Tamil Nadu (JAC) has demanded that the University Grants Commission (UGC) withdraw its draft guidelines on de-reservation for vacancies.
The council said de-reservation of vacancies in posts allotted to OBC/SC/ST communities in educational institutions would dilute the reservation policy of the government.
Social justice demands that if there are not enough qualified persons then the institution must train and enable persons from these communities to take up the positions reserved for them, said S. Suresh, convenor of JAC.
The discussion over de-reservation rose after a report in the news about the UGC suggesting in its guidelines, that vacancies in the reserved category could be de-reserved so that they can be filled with suitably qualified candidates.
Meanwhile, the Union Education Ministry posted on X (formerly Twitter) that reservation in central educational institutions (CEI) is provided for all posts in direct recruitment in the teachers’ 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 CEIs to fill up vacancies strictly as per the 2019 Act,” the post read.
The UGC also posted on X, its chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar’s response: “This is to clarify that there has been no de-reservation of reserved category positions in Central Educational Institutions 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 category are filled up through concerted efforts.”
