DU failing on national commitment for social justice, says OBC welfare panel

NEW DELHI: Delhi University has done little to ensure due representation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) among its teachers and is "failing" on the national commitment for social justice, a panel on welfare of OBCs said in an action-taken report to Parliament.

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The panel also noted that the Ministry of Education chose to remain non-committal on the issue of stopping interviews in DU for OBC candidates. "It is expected that a reputed university like DU should be committed towards the constitutional ideals of ensuring empowerment and representation of socially backward people of the country," the report submitted in Lok Sabha on Thursday said.

"However, the committee is saddened to note that DU has done little to ensure due representation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) among its teachers thus failing on the national commitment for social justice," it added.

Noting that there are only 75 OBC teachers in DU out of 1,706 sanctioned posts, the panel said it is evident that the university has "faltered on important goal for empowerment of OBCs as the gulf between present representation of 4.63 per cent and the legally mandated 27 per cent is a wide one which would require extraordinary efforts and commitment to fill".

"The situation is more worrisome when it comes to specific posts. Not even one out of 174 and 67 posts of associate professor and professor, respectively, has been filled," it said.

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The panel pointed out that the Supreme Court in 2019 had noted that the process of conducting separate interviews for the post of assistant professor under the general category and OBC category is wholly illegal. "The committee desires that the practice of holding separate interviews needs to be re-examined by DU in this light. They desire to be apprised of the decision taken thereafter," it said.