Click to play videoNew Delhi: It is almost as if the OBC quota is not enough. The Human Resource Ministry under HRD Minister Arjun Singh has now ordered a quota for the teachers, leaving the IIT teaching staff fuming.
The Government diktat was signed by the Director of Technical Education in the HRD ministry, Seema Raj, and read: "I am directed to say that the matter relating to reservation of SC, ST, OBC categories in recruitment to teaching (faculty) posts in the IITs was considered in the second meeting of the SCIC (Standing Committee of IIT Council) held on 11/2/2008. The recommendations made by the SCIC have been accepted by the chairman of (the) IIT Council. Accordingly, it has been decided to implement reservation for SC, ST, OBC, in recruitment to teaching (faculty) posts in IITs with immediate effect."
In the latest diktat, the HRD Ministry has ordered IITs to introduce quotas for teachers with immediate effect. The move seeks to create 15 per cent quota for Scheduled Castes, 7.5 per cent for Scheduled Tribes and 27 per cent for Other Backward Classes in teaching positions.
The matter assumes importance because of the massive recruitment drive IITs will have to undertake as they increase their faculty after the OBC quota implementation and the subequent expansion plans. Almost 250-300 teachers are to be recruited by IITs in the next three years.
IITs currently have reservations for backward category candidates for administrative posts - from attendants to the level of deputy registrar. However, there is no reservation for the teaching staff.
The order stated that for Science and Technology, posts will be reserved for lecturers and assistant professors whereas for the faculty in Management and Humanities, reservations will be applicable up to the professor level.
In what seems be an effort to soften the blow, the HRD ministry has though allowed IITs to de-reserve the posts after a year, if they do not get filled, "despite all efforts".
Brand IIT has always maintained a very high quality of staff and is one of the country's premier teaching institutes. Teachers are livid that people can now use the caste stamp to secure teaching posts at the institutes, some of them claiming that IIT has never had a caste bias and runs on merit. They say that if people are found to be meritorious, they are welcome to fill posts, whichever caste they may be from.
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