SC Faculty Positions in BHU to be Cut By 50 Percent After UGC Notification

The faculty positions for the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Castes (OBC) will be cut by 50 per cent, 80 per cent and 30 per cent respectively in Centre-funded Banaras Hindu University (BHU), if it goes ahead with new formula for recruitment, suggested by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

In its notification, UGC has directed all central and state universities to consider departments as 'units'. However, for recruitment for the reserved faculty positions, the university was considered to be a ‘unit’ until now, in compliance with the 2006 UGC guidelines. The new notification says, "In case of reservation for SC/ST, all the universities, deemed to be universities, colleges and grant-in-aid institutions and centres shall prepare the roster system keeping the department/subject as a unit for all levels of teachers as applicable."

A report by The Indian Express stated that the university had 1930 faculty positions on May 12, 2017. If BHU, also the largest residential university of Asia, sticks to the reservation norms according to the old 2006 UGC guidelines – that consider a university to be a unit – there will be 289 posts reserved for SCs, 143 posts for STs and 310 for OBCs. But, the new formula suggested by the UGC after Allahabad High Court judgement of April 2017, will reduce seats significantly, bringing the numbers down to 119 for SCs, 29 for STs and 220 for OBCs.

Based on new projections by BHU, the Centre has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to reverse the order of Allahabad High Court which barred recruitment with UGC guidelines 2006. After protests by Dalit and tribal groups, the Centre, in its affidavit, challenged the judgement that aims to wipe out the reserved positions from many departments.

Commenting on this development, Raj Kumar, Associate Professor, Delhi University, said that the loss of teaching positions for reserved communities will be more than expected in other central and state universities. "The grim situation can be gauged from the fact that three central universities – Tamil Nadu Central University, Amarkantak Tribal University and Haryana Central University – advertised for recruitment for 194 posts. Ideally, 49.5 per cent seats should be reserved for SCs, STs and OBCs. But only three faculty positions were reserved, owing to the new formula," said Kumar.

He added that, approximately, there are 10,000 teaching positions in Delhi University. Out of 5,000 reserved seats, only 2000 teachers are appointed and if the new formula is implemented, the strength of the reserved positions is likely to be affected by 1,000 seats.