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

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) teachers’ body, AADTA, has opposed the University Grants Commission's (UGC) draft guidelines on implementing reservation policies in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Aditya Narayan Misra, former president of the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA), also called for removal of the de-reservation provisions mentioned in some clauses in Chapter 10 of the proposed draft.

According to activists, the UGC proposal is a direct attack on the constitutional principles of affirmative action and social justice. They argue that reservation policies aim to address historical discrimination and ensure equitable representation for marginalised communities in public institutions, including universities and colleges.

“The de-reservation provision will open a window of discrimination against reserved category candidates. It will be shown that the institution could not find suitable candidates against reserved vacancies; hence the said posts should be de-reserved in public interest,” the AADTA press release read.

Proposed "de-reservation" clauses

The draft, published on the UGC website, outlines two key "de-reservation" clauses in Chapter 10 (10.1, 10.2). These clauses would permit unfilled reserved seats to be opened up for general category if suitable candidates from the reserved categories were not found.

Clause 10.3 permits de-reservation in case of promotion i.e. if sufficient numbers of SC/ST candidates fit for promotion against reserved vacancies are not available.

Academics and activists are opposing provisions allowing for "de-reservation" of seats reserved for historically marginalised Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

“The provision of de-reservation in case of promotion will make the already dismal condition of representation in HEIs even worse. It is against enabling provisions of the Constitution which give access to justice and equal representation to the people belonging to the deprived and marginalised sections,” said Aditya Narayan Misra.

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“We register our sharp dissent and submit that the provision of de-reservation (as outlined in Clause 10.1, 10.2 & 10.3 of Chapter 10) proposed with the final draft of guidelines for implementation of the reservation policy of the government of India in HEIs must be summarily deleted,” he adds.

Misra said that instead of de-reservation, the UGC should focus on addressing the root causes of low representation from reserved categories. They suggest implementing stronger safeguards against discrimination, improving recruitment processes, and actively nurturing talent from marginalised communities within academia.

Misra also suggested keeping the vacant reserved posts as backlog and suggests that these post must be filled with only reserved category candidates in successive advertisement for recruitment. There should be no bar on time and the number of repeated advertisements, he added.