Minister for Welfare of SCs/STs and Backward Communities A.K. Balan has said that the government will go in appeal in the Supreme Court against the Kerala High Court Division Bench’s order that reservation norms need not be observed in the case of SC/ST candidates in aided college appointments.
In a statement here on Friday, the Minister said the Division Bench’s position that reservation norms would not apply to private aided colleges controlled by non-minority managements under UGC rules did not tally with facts.
The UGC’s norms mainly dealt with grant of recognition to colleges and their academic matters. Although appointments in private aided colleges were carried out by the managements, the amount paid as salary came from the government coffers. The government, therefore, had the responsibility to ensure social justice and protect the reservation rights of SCs/STs, he said.
Mr. Balan pointed out that the government spent roughly ₹8,000 crore for paying salaries to teachers in the private aided colleges. Out of the 1,14,000 college teachers in the State, only 462 belonged to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Although 10% of posts were reserved for them, they were not able to occupy all the vacancies as they were not in a position to comply with the conditions put forth by the managements. The LDF government was of the firm view that reservation norms should be enforced on colleges where the salary bills were being picked up by it, the Minister said.
