Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar (File Photo)The government is determined to protect reservation in teaching jobs, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Wednesday, adding that his ministry will approach the Supreme Court to seek a review of its decision upholding the Allahabad High Court order under which quota in faculty positions will be calculated department-wise and not on total posts in a university.
“We will defend our stand well and we believe we will get justice and reservation will be done based on the 200-point roster. Modi government will not let anything adverse happen to reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs. This is definite,” he told reporters.
Javadekar also clarified that the University Grants Commission’s order of July 2018, putting all teacher recruitment on hold, has not been withdrawn. This, in effect, means that universities cannot resume faculty recruitment till the government’s review petition is disposed off by the apex court.
On January 22, a bench of Justices U U Lalit and Indira Banerjee rejected the Centre’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) which challenged the April 7, 2017 order of the Allahabad High Court. The SLP was filed following a political furore over the University Grants Commission’s March 5 order of the same year, announcing that the number of reserved faculty posts across universities and colleges would be calculated department-wise and not based on the aggregate vacant posts.
UGC’s order of March 5, 2018, was in response to a decision of the Allahabad High Court of April 2017.
