AIOBCSA questions SC, ST, OBC faculty representation at IITs; calls for reservations

The All India OBC Students Association (AIOBCSA) has shared Right to Information (RTI) replies from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and IIT Kanpur on its X handle, raising concerns over faculty representation and reservation in higher educational institutions.The association shared copies of RTI replies issued by the institutes under the Right to Information Act, 2005, questioning the implementation of reservations and representation in faculty recruitment.

Sharing the RTI reply from IIT Kharagpur dated February 9, 2026, in response to an application submitted by Gowd Kiran Kumar of Hyderabad, AIOBCSA captioned its post, "Injustice! IIT Kharagpur must implement reservations." The institute has a sanctioned faculty strength of 1,600, of these, 776 faculty positions are filled, and 824 teaching posts are vacant.

The institute stated that the 776 serving faculty members include 320 professors (7 OBC, 6 SC, and 0 ST), 164 associate professors and 292 assistant professors.

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IIT Kharagpur also clarified that the institute follows a flexible cadre structure for faculty recruitment. In the reply IIT Kharagpur justified why post-wise and category-wise sanctioned faculty positions cannot be calculated. The reply reads, "The institute follows flexible cadre structure for recruitment of faculty positions, hence the post wise and category wise sanctioned post could not be calculated."

The institute further informed that faculty recruitment is carried out in accordance with Government of India guidelines issued from time to time. Sharing the document, AIOBCSA has reiterated its demand for the implementation of reservations at IIT Kharagpur.

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(Image: X/@gowdkiran, @aiobcsa)

IIT Kanpur faculty representation

In a separate post, the association shared an RTI reply received from IIT Kanpur and highlighted the representation of different social categories among the institute's professors. "IIT Kanpur has 257 Professors. OBC: 3, SC: 0,ST: 0," the association wrote in its post. Questioning the faculty composition, AIOBCSA further asked, "Is this what 'merit' looks like?"

The association also alleged that instead of questioning this shocking lack of representation, Brahminical forces demand an end to reservations. Reservations exist because exclusion exists. The association asserted that representation is justice. Equality cannot exist without inclusion."

The RTI reply from IIT Kanpur, dated February 6, 2026, states that the institute has a sanctioned faculty strength of 957, of which 581 positions are filled, while 376 faculty posts remain vacant. The institute's response also provides a detailed break-up of the filled faculty positions across academic ranks.

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According to the RTI document, IIT Kanpur has 257 professors; out of them 252 belong to general category, three belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, one from the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category and one faculty member under the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) category. The RTI reply shows that there are no Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) professors at the institute.

Among the 128 associate professors, the institute reported 104 in the general category, seven from OBC, six from SC, four from ST, six from EWS and one faculty member under the PwD category.

The RTI reply further states that IIT Kanpur has 193 assistant professors. Of these, 97 belong to the general category, 42 are from OBC, 16 from SC, seven from ST, 29 from EWS and two are appointed under the Persons with Disabilities category. The RTI response was issued in reply to an online RTI application bearing registration number IITKP/R/T/26/00011.