The controversial draft of UGC guidelines contemplating the possibility of de-reserving the reserved faculty positions in higher educational institutions has created an uproar. The move being seen by some as a “backdoor method to abolish reservation” forced the Union government to issue a clarification that no de-reservation is being planned. University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar said that what has been put out is just a draft.
However, questions are now being raised on the legality of the whole exercise. “The UGC has no power in deciding the reservation policy of the country. It is a decision taken by the central government,” Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson told THE WEEK. “Why should UGC tinker with something that is not even in their domain.
“It seems that the entire final draft is aimed at depriving reservations to the SC/ST/OBC communities. This has to be seriously reviewed and one must find out whose thought is behind such actions,” Wilson added.
The higher education regulator had shared draft guidelines on December 27 for public feedback. The draft contained a chapter on de-reservation of unfilled quota posts meant for teachers, officers, and employees of a university. The chapter stated that while there is a “general ban on de-reservation of reserved vacancies in case of direct recruitment”, it can be done in exceptional circumstances.
Explaining the constitutional limitation of the UGC to venture into such actions, Wilson said, “The UGC act of 1956 was created to coordinate standards in universities. Under section 12, its functions are clearly restricted to promoting and coordinating university education, determining and maintaining standards of teaching, examination, and research in universities.
“Therefore, the UGC should understand that their job is not one relating to deciding the reservation or abolition of reserved posts. The entire exercise is without jurisdiction, illegal, and void ab initio and motivated.
“The present notification is a blueprint of the present government at the centre for the next five years, if elected to power,” Wilson said.
Demanding a complete white paper stating how and under what authority and at whose instance the UGC ventured into the present exercise, Wilson urged the UGC chairman to take absolute responsibility and resign for the blunder he has committed, thereby hurting the feelings of the SC/ST/OBC communities and sending a shocking wave across the country. He said that the chairman’s actions are also encroaching on the independence of the state universities and destroying the federal structure of the country.
