40% of SC/ST faculty posts in Central universities vacant

Mumbai: Even after four decades of reservation, over 40 per cent of SC/ST lecturer posts are still lying vacant in 19 Central universities. Out of the total number of 4,887 posts sanctioned by the University Grants Commission, there are only 629 SC/ST lecturers belonging to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes. This leaves a backlog of 471 as per the 2007-08 data sourced from the UGC under the Right to Information Act.

The poorest record is of the Banaras Hindu University, where out of 155 SC lecturer posts and 74 ST posts, only 86 and 24 have been filled.

Being a minority institution, the Aligarh Muslim University is exempt from reservation. But there is no SC/ST lecturer in the institution in spite of a listed requirement of 193 faculty members from these groups.

According to the Union government’s rule, the percentage of reservation in Central Universities is 22.5 — 15 for the SCs and 7.5 for the STs.

Extrapolation of the data based on these figures shows that the SC/STs still remain poorly represented in higher education. With 629 SC/ST lecturers, their representation is only 12.8 per cent, way below the 22.5 per cent mark, out of the 4,877 posts sanctioned in the Central universities. The “UGC has failed to ensure effective implementation of the reservation policy in the Central universities and grantee institutions which are deemed-to-be universities,” states the UGC guidelines document.
Readers and professors

As you move up the cadre, from lecturer to Reader and professor, you will see that the number of SC/STs starts dwindling sharply. A majority of the universities have zero SC/ST Readers and professors. Sixteen of the 19 Central Universities have no SC professor and 17 have no ST professor. Part of the reason could be that till recently, reservation was applicable only at the entry level post of lecturer. It did not apply to promotions and for higher posts. The UGC guidelines of 2006 mandated 22.5 per cent reservation for Readers and professors as well. But two years later, the hiatus remains intact.

Not much has changed in the past few years, despite the awareness among authorities of the dismal implementation of quota. “I am not surprised at the figure,” says Prof. R.K. Kale from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, who himself has questioned, in the academic journal University News, the feckless implementation in the Central Universities. “It is a slow process,” he admits, although with a note of assurance that the UGC is taking a keen interest in overseeing strict implementation of the reservation policy.

Data from State universities and colleges affiliated to them opens yet another can of worms. State universities follow State-level quota figures.

UGC figures for 53 State universities show a backlog of around 50 per cent. Quite a few of them do not have SC/ST lecturers, let alone professors and Readers.

While academics admit that posts lying vacant is a cause for concern, none of the authorities, at the Centre or at individual college levels, has any punitive power. Although the UGC claims to have upped the ante, the absence of clear deadlines, complex procedures, bureaucratic apathy and, above all, entrenched casteist attitudes make enough pathways for circumventing the law with impunity.

At present, a number of qualified SC/ST teachers, even from remote towns, are battling with the system against unjust contract-based appointments, abrupt termination orders and unfounded rejections by the interview panel, while denial of opportunities continues. In this scenario, the usual refrain of ‘candidates not available’ or ‘candidates not suitable’ rings hollow.

Source :Hindu