New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked all universities in the country — central and state — to fill up the backlog of reserved teaching and non-teaching vacancies.
In a circular sent Tuesday, the commission asked all universities to take action and sought a follow-up update on the same.
The move came after reports pointed out that a large number of reserved posts have been lying vacant across central universities in India.
ThePrint had reported in August about the vacancies at various levels. The report found that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) were the worst represented, especially at the ‘professor’ level. For OBCs, 313 posts are reserved at the professor-level across all central universities, but only nine of them have been filled so far.
According to data accessed by ThePrint, 6,688 teaching posts are vacant across central universities, out of which 1,084 are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC), 604 for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 1,684 for OBCs.
No clear data is available on the reserved category break-up for state universities. However, reports say that around 28 per cent of teaching positions across state universities were vacant as of October last year. Of the 2,46,509 faculty positions, only 1,79,950 were filled.
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‘Display reservation roster on website’
The government has now asked that these posts be filled. It has also asked the institutes to display the reservation roster on its website.
“You are required to display the reservation roster which is to be updated at regular intervals on your website as per instructions issued by the Govt. of India,” the UGC said in its circular.
“You are also requested to fill up remaining backlog identified reserved vacancies of these categories in teaching and non-teaching posts, to furnish a report along with statistical information,” the circular added.
The commission also asked for compliance with reservation rules with respect to student admissions for the 2020-21 session. It said these instructions should also be circulated to all the constituent and affiliated colleges of the university for follow-up action.
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