Barring entry level, jobs in select institutes to be exempt
New Delhi: The Centre plans to exempt some academic institutions from job reservations for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes except in the lowest grade posts under a bill drafted in a manner that suggests the opposite.
The exemption will cover both teaching and non-teaching posts at the IITs, IIMs and a slew of other institutions recognised as Institutes of National Importance under the laws that govern the institutions.
The move to introduce the exemptions comes three years after education minister Arjun Singh ignited a controversy by announcing OBC reservations, and suggests a departure from the UPA’s efforts to project itself as a quota-friendly government.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (reservation in posts and services) Bill, 2008, was passed in the Rajya Sabha in December. The government plans to obtain the Lok Sabha’s approval in the coming session — the last before its term ends.
It is listed as a bill “to provide for reservation of appointments or posts in civil services for members of the SCs and STs in establishments and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”
But reservations in civil services for SC/STs already exist under Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) orders that date back to the 1950s. The quotas were extended to OBCs in jobs following the Mandal agitation in 1991.
The bill does, however, for the first time officially grant exemption to 47 academic institutions from quotas in large chunks of posts.
The human resource development ministry today handed out copies of the bill to members of the IIT council — the highest decision-making body of the engineering institutes.
The IITs violated the DoPT rules for decades to not implement any quotas in faculty posts which at present they are required to. The Telegraph had reported the violation on December 6, 2007.
Arjun Singh said in March 2008 that the institutes would have to follow quotas. In June, a formal notification was sent to the IITs, asking them to implement the reservations.
IIT directors, however, opposed the faculty quotas, arguing that reservations would hurt the quality of teaching and inject casteism into the teaching fraternity at the premier engineering schools.
In August 2008, IIT Guwahati director Gautam Barua asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene on the concerns raised by the directors. The Prime Minister promised he would take up the concerns with Arjun Singh.
The new bill has been shepherded by the Prime Minister’s Office, and was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by Prithviraj Chavan, the minister of state in the PMO.
“There shall be no reservation where appointments are made to posts higher than the lowest grade of Group ‘A’ posts in institutions of national importance and the IIMs specified in the schedule,” Section 4(1)(iv) of the bill states.
The schedule lists the institutes granted exemption. The IIMs are specifically mentioned because they are not governed by a law unlike the other institutions listed in the schedule.
Group ‘A’ posts do not cover faculty posts — they describe only a category of posts that includes the registrar and other senior officers of the administration. But all faculty at the IITs, IIMs and other institutes listed in the schedule are paid salaries on a par with or higher than the “lowest grade of Group ‘A’ posts”.
So, the bill, if cleared by the Lok Sabha, will grant exemption to the institutes for all posts above the lowest faculty posts.
The bill grants exemption — to all government institutions — from quotas for appointments to be made for a period shorter than 45 days for emergency relief work.
It also exempts all posts higher than the lowest grade of Group ‘A’ scientific and technical posts that range from lab assistants to senior scientific and project officers.
Source: The Telegraph
New Delhi: The Centre plans to exempt some academic institutions from job reservations for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes except in the lowest grade posts under a bill drafted in a manner that suggests the opposite.
The exemption will cover both teaching and non-teaching posts at the IITs, IIMs and a slew of other institutions recognised as Institutes of National Importance under the laws that govern the institutions.
The move to introduce the exemptions comes three years after education minister Arjun Singh ignited a controversy by announcing OBC reservations, and suggests a departure from the UPA’s efforts to project itself as a quota-friendly government.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (reservation in posts and services) Bill, 2008, was passed in the Rajya Sabha in December. The government plans to obtain the Lok Sabha’s approval in the coming session — the last before its term ends.
It is listed as a bill “to provide for reservation of appointments or posts in civil services for members of the SCs and STs in establishments and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”
But reservations in civil services for SC/STs already exist under Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) orders that date back to the 1950s. The quotas were extended to OBCs in jobs following the Mandal agitation in 1991.
The bill does, however, for the first time officially grant exemption to 47 academic institutions from quotas in large chunks of posts.
The human resource development ministry today handed out copies of the bill to members of the IIT council — the highest decision-making body of the engineering institutes.
The IITs violated the DoPT rules for decades to not implement any quotas in faculty posts which at present they are required to. The Telegraph had reported the violation on December 6, 2007.
Arjun Singh said in March 2008 that the institutes would have to follow quotas. In June, a formal notification was sent to the IITs, asking them to implement the reservations.
IIT directors, however, opposed the faculty quotas, arguing that reservations would hurt the quality of teaching and inject casteism into the teaching fraternity at the premier engineering schools.
In August 2008, IIT Guwahati director Gautam Barua asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene on the concerns raised by the directors. The Prime Minister promised he would take up the concerns with Arjun Singh.
The new bill has been shepherded by the Prime Minister’s Office, and was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by Prithviraj Chavan, the minister of state in the PMO.
“There shall be no reservation where appointments are made to posts higher than the lowest grade of Group ‘A’ posts in institutions of national importance and the IIMs specified in the schedule,” Section 4(1)(iv) of the bill states.
The schedule lists the institutes granted exemption. The IIMs are specifically mentioned because they are not governed by a law unlike the other institutions listed in the schedule.
Group ‘A’ posts do not cover faculty posts — they describe only a category of posts that includes the registrar and other senior officers of the administration. But all faculty at the IITs, IIMs and other institutes listed in the schedule are paid salaries on a par with or higher than the “lowest grade of Group ‘A’ posts”.
So, the bill, if cleared by the Lok Sabha, will grant exemption to the institutes for all posts above the lowest faculty posts.
The bill grants exemption — to all government institutions — from quotas for appointments to be made for a period shorter than 45 days for emergency relief work.
It also exempts all posts higher than the lowest grade of Group ‘A’ scientific and technical posts that range from lab assistants to senior scientific and project officers.
Source: The Telegraph
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