Over 2,500 reserved faculty posts vacant across 17 IITs; at 10 institutes, over 60 depts with no SC teacher

Across 17 Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), as many as 2,508 faculty positions reserved for the historically-marginalised Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) remain vacant, show responses to a Right to Information (RTI) query shared with Careers360.

The RTI applications were filed by Pranav Jeevan P, an alumnus of IIT Bombay, Madras and Kanpur in August and the response came in late September. The data points show large swathes of vacancies in reserved category faculty positions across older and newer IITs in the last five years. Careers360 had previously reported on seven IITs with 1,495 reserved SC, ST, OBC faculty posts vacant, of which IIT Kharagpur alone had 710.

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Another 10 IITs add another 1,013 vacant SC, ST, OBC posts, taking the total across 17 IITs to 2,508.

IIT: For some categories, zero posts filled

At several IITs, departments including artificial intelligence, computer science, mechanical engineering, physics and humanities, have no faculty members from one or more reserved categories.

As reported earlier, IIT Kharagpur has 710 reserved posts vacant, the highest of the 17. It is followed by IIT ISM Dhanbad with 248 vacancies which is over 64% of reserved sanctioned posts. It is followed by IIT Roorkee with 236 vacancies; IIT BHU with 201; IIT Guwahati and IIT Hyderabad, with 78.5% and 63% posts vacant respectively.

The Supreme Court-appointed National Task Force's interim report had recommended that institutes fill vacant faculty positions “within three months with priority given to posts reserved for candidates from marginalized and underrepresented communities”. It had also suggested special recruitment drives for faculty positions covered under reservation rules.

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Over 70% SC, ST, OBC posts empty at 3 IITs

Among the 10 IITs, listed in the table below, a total of 1,013 reserved category faculty positions are vacant, computed by Jeevan, based on the stipulated allocations and vacancy figures shared in the RTI responses.

At IIT Gandhinagar, 75 out of 94 allocated reserved category faculty positions are vacant, the highest vacancy percentage among the institutes at nearly 80%. The RTI response, however, did not provide a category-wise distribution.

10 IITs: SC,ST,OBC faculty vacancies

IIT Jobs: Vacant posts but many applicants

A critical point Jeevan makes has to do with the applications. Some IITs shared data on the number of applications they received for the posts.

IIT Guwahati received 1,885 applications for such posts but filled only 51. Similarly, IIT Hyderabad had filled only 89 – 150 are still vacant – despite receiving 2,359 applications. IIT Indore has 81 stipulated reserved category faculty positions vacant. The institute received 1,879 applications for reserved positions over the last five years till September 2026 and filled 73.

In the past, the IITs have resisted reservation in hiring arguing they do not find suitable candidates and a parliamentary panel accused central institutions of bypassing reservation with the “not found suitable” tag

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At IIT Mandi, 116 out of 158 reserved category faculty positions remain vacant. While the RTI data showed 73 vacancies in SC, ST and OBC positions, Jeevan's calculation based on the stipulated reserved category allocations showed a higher shortfall.

Similarly, Jeevan calculated 248 reserved vacancies at IIT ISM Dhanbad – out of 387 sanctioned posts – whereas the RTI response states there are 216 vacant spots.

Departments without SC, ST or OBC teachers

The RTI responses also show the absence of SC, ST or OBC faculty in several academic departments.

At IIT Hyderabad, for example, out of 16 departments, three have no OBC faculty, five have no dalit faculty and 13 have no ST faculty. Major departments, including electrical engineering and computer science and engineering (CSE) have no ST faculty. The departments of artificial intelligence and climate change have no teacher from any of the reserved categories, shows the data.

Number of departments with 0 SC, ST or OBC teachers

IIT Guwahati has a similar gap in faculty representation. Out of its 16 departments, 11 have no ST faculty, four have no SC faculty and six have no OBC faculty. The Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Humanities and Social Sciences, Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology, Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering are among departments with no faculty representation from one or more reserved categories.

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IIT Palakkad has no ST faculty in any of its 12 departments. At IIT Gandhinagar, seven out of 16 departments have no SC, ST or OBC faculty. Further, 13 departments have no ST faculty, 10 have no SC faculty and 11 have no OBC faculty.

At IIT Dharwad, out of 10 departments, seven have no SC faculty, six have no ST faculty and two departments have no OBC faculty. Major branches including computer science and engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry and humanities, economics, arts and rural technologies, have no SC or ST faculty. The Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering has no faculty from any reserved category.

The data also raises questions about representation in departments that are increasingly central to India's higher education and technology ecosystem, including artificial intelligence, data science, computer science and engineering.