Govt says 'de-reservation' of seats not allowed as UGC norms spark criticism

New Delhi: A controversy erupted on Sunday over 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 as conspiracy to do away with quota in higher education institutions.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) clarified that no reserved posts can be "de-reserved" and cited the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019.

UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar 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 dereservation".

The draft 'Guidelines for Implementation of the Reservation Policy of the Government of India in Higher Education Institutes (HEIs)' are in the public domain for feedback from stakeholders till January 28.

The draft guidelines have drawn flak from several quarters. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP is "only busy in snatching the jobs of youths".

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh demanded that the proposal be withdrawn immediately.

The opposition party accused the Centre of doing "politics of symbolism" on issues of Dalits, backward classes and tribals.

The JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) also announced a protest against the UGC Chairman Kumar on the issue on Monday. In his clarification, Kumar said that the Ministry of Education has given directives to all the CEIs to fill up vacancies strictly as per the 2019 Act. (PTI)