Start Recruitment Process, UGC Tells Universities after Cabinet Ordinance to Restore 200-Point Roster Gets Clearance

Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared a proposal for promulgation of an ordinance on reservation mechanism for appointment of faculties in varsities. Now the University Grants Commission (UGC) wrote to universities to immediately start the teachers' recruitment process, which was put on hold in July last year.  

The Union government in an official statement said, “This decision is expected to improve the teaching standards in the higher educational institutions to attract all eligible talented candidates. It will allow filling up of more than 5000 vacancies by direct recruitment in Teachers' Cadre duly. I will also ensure that the Constitutional Provisions of Articles 14, 16 and 21 shall be complied with and stipulated reservation criteria for the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes are met with.” 

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar has said the Centre was committed to restore the reservation roster in educational institutions by a series of protests on the issue from various students' and teachers' organisations. 

This communication by UGC came after the Cabinet's approval for promulgation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Ordinance, 2019, to restore the earlier 200-point roster based reservation system in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs).  

"Following the promulgation of the ordinance, the universities are directed to start recruitment process immediately," the UGC said in a letter to university vice-chancellors.  

According to the government, the ordinance will ensure that constitutional provisions of reservation for SC, ST and SEBL in the faculty recruitment will be protected and the current impasse in recruitment would also be resolved.  

Meanwhile, teachers' associations like Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) and Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA), on Thursday welcomed the government decision to bring an ordinance.  

These associations were on the forefront of protests against the UGC circular which stopped the 200-point roster for faculty reservation.