Supreme Court directs Centre, IITs to follow quota law in recruitment of faculty

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to follow the reservation policy for admission in research degree programmes and recruitment of faculty members at IITs as provided under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by a man named S N Pandey seeking direction to the Centre and the IITs to follow the reservation policy with regard to admissions in research programmes and recruitment of faculty members, claiming the guidelines were being violated.

The matter came up before a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar and it was informed that the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019 stipulates such reservation and it is being implemented.

"Counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent has pointed out that now in view of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019, the reservation is provided with respect to all the Central Educational Institutions including the IITs. "The concerned respondents are hereby directed to follow the reservation and act as per the reservations provided under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019," the bench said.

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The Act provides for quotas in teaching positions in central institutions for persons from Scheduled Castes/Tribes, socially and educationally backward classes, and those from economically weaker sections. Pandey, in his plea filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, had also sought directives for creation of a mechanism for resolving harassment complaints by students/scholars related to research work and to constitute a committee of technical experts to review the performance of the existing faculty.

He had sought cancellation of the appointment of non-performing faculty due to violation of reservation norms and formulation of a transparent recruitment policy.

"It is submitted that the process of taking admissions in the research program and appointment of faculty members by the respondents (IITs) are completely unconstitutional, illegal and arbitrary. The respondents are not following the guidelines of reservation as per the constitutional mandate," the plea said.

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It claimed the IITs were not following a transparent process of recruiting the faculty members which opened up a window for non-deserving candidates to enter the prestigious institutions through connections that increased the chances of corruption, favouritism and discrimination, affecting internal ranking and technological growth of the country.

"The respondents (IITs) are completely violating the reservation policies that provide for reservation to socially marginalised communities belonging to the SC (15 percent), ST (17 per cent) and OBCs (27 per cent)," the plea said.