Reservation data ‘incorrect’: IIT Bombay responds to APPSC on violating SC, ST, OBC quota policy

NEW DELHI: Responding to the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle’s (APPSC) latest findings on the implementation of reservation policy in recruitment and PhD admissions, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay said the figures are “incorrect”. In a post on X, it said: “Recruitment are: 27 SC, 6 ST, 29 OBC NC, 1 EWS - total offered since 2021. Many have joined. Some are yet to join. We are yet to complete interviews for certain departments which will bring in more candidates.”

Replying to the official post, APPSC IIT Bombay replied stating that the allegedly incorrect data is from IIT Bombay’s own response to queries filed under the Right to Information (RTI) act. “Are you saying that IIT Bombay lied in the official RTI response they sent?” questioned the group.

Data by the institutions with the students’ group showed that both IIT Bombay and IIT Madras had admitted or recruited fewer candidates from the historically-marginalised Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes than what the reservation policy allows.

While IIT Bombay has 6% of faculty members from SC, ST, OBC communities, it had not hired a single ST or OBC candidate. Similarly, IIT Madras, across 10 departments, has only four ST PhD students. APPSC pointed out that even if the figures of IIT Bombay shared on X were to be considered, SC, ST, OBC faculty members would still constitute only 9% of the total.

This is IIT Bombay’s first response on APPSC’s social post. Recently, the institute also responded on social media regarding placements countering reports that 36% of students of the current batch failed to get placed.