NEW DELHI, 30 Jan: The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Tuesday removed from its website the draft guidelines suggesting “de-reservation” of reserved posts if enough candidates from the SC, ST and OBC categories are not available, amid a controversy over the issue.
UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, however, said that “the guidelines have been removed from the website as the time period for stakeholders to submit their feedback is over.”
A controversy erupted on Sunday over the UGC’s draft guidelines proposing that any vacancy reserved for SC, ST and OBC candidates can be “declared unreserved” if enough candidates from these categories are not available, with the Congress terming it a conspiracy to do away with quota in higher education institutions.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan clarified that not a single post will be de-reserved and there is no scope for ambiguity about reservations after the introduction of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019.
The UGC chairman also made it clear that there has been no de-reservation of reserved category positions in central educational institutions (CEI) in the past and there is “going to be no such de-reservation.”
The draft guidelines drew flak from several quarters. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the BJP was “only busy snatching the jobs of youths.”
The JNU Students’ Union also staged a protest against the UGC chairman over the issue on Monday. (PTI)