Govt says 'de-reservation' of seats not allowed as UGC draft guidelines spark criticism

NEW DELHI: A controversy erupted on Sunday over UGC's draft guidelines proposing that any vacancy reserved for SC, ST and OBC candidates can be "declared unreserved" if enough candidates from these categories are not available, with the Congress terming it a conspiracy to do away with quota in higher education institutions.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan clarified that not a single post will be de-reserved and there is no scope of ambiguity about reservations after the introduction of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019.

University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar also made it clear that there has been no de-reservation of reserved category positions in Central Educational Institutions (CEI) in the past and there is "going to be no such de-reservation".

Also read UGC Draft Guidelines: Teachers' bodies oppose "de-reservation" clauses

The draft 'Guidelines for Implementation of the Reservation Policy of the Government of India in Higher Education Institutes (HEIs)' are in the public domain for feedback from stakeholders till January 28.

The draft guidelines have drawn flak from several quarters. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP is "only busy in snatching the jobs of youths".

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh demanded that the proposal be withdrawn immediately.

In a post in Hindi, Ramesh said, "A few years ago, RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) chief Mohan Bhagwat had talked about reviewing reservations. Now, there is a conspiracy to end the reservation given to SCs, STs and OBCs in higher education institutions." The opposition party accused the Centre of doing "politics of symbolism" on issues of Dalits, backward classes and tribals.