No Reserved Post Can Be De-reserved: Education Ministry Clarifies

Amidst backlash regarding the University Grants Commission's recent draft guidelines suggesting the "de-reserving" of reserved faculty recruitment posts in "rare and exceptional cases," the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) clarified its position on the matter Sunday evening, asserting that no reserved post can be de-reserved.

In response to the draft guidelines titled "Guidelines for Implementation of the Reservation Policy of the Government of India in Higher Education Institutes (HEIs)," released by the UGC in November last year, the higher education regulator directed all central educational institutions to adhere strictly to the central government's reservation norms when filling up vacancies.

According to the UGC's proposal, reserved faculty positions for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates could be de-reserved if they remained unfilled due to a lack of eligible candidates. This suggestion drew widespread criticism from teachers and students, who deemed it a threat to the principles of social justice.

In response to the controversy, students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) staged a protest against the directive on Sunday, leading the university's vice-chancellor, Santishree D Pandit, to issue a statement.

The Ministry of Education released a statement on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, emphasizing that the Central Educational Institutions (CEI) reservation is applicable to all posts in direct recruitment within the Teacher's cadre, as mandated by the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019. The ministry stated that, in line with this Act, no reserved post is eligible for de-reservation. Directives have been issued to all CEIs to fill vacancies strictly in accordance with the 2019 Act.

The draft guidelines acknowledge a general prohibition on de-reserving reserved vacancies in direct recruitment. However, in rare and exceptional cases where leaving a vacancy in a Group A service is not in the public interest, the concerned university may submit a proposal for de-reservation of the vacancy, as outlined in the draft guidelines.