Faculty OBC quota: JNU delays decision

Divided on the issue of implementing 27 per cent OBC reservations in faculty positions as per University Grants Commissions guidelines,the Jawaharlal Nehru University has now referred the decision to its schools and centres.

Divided on the issue of implementing 27 per cent OBC reservations in faculty positions as per University Grants Commissions (UGC) guidelines,the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has now referred the decision to its schools and centres.

The JNU faculty is split on whether the reservations should remain only for the post of Assistant Professor or be extended to positions of Associate Professor and Professor.

The schools and centres are expected to submit their decision on the issue in about three weeks. The matter will then be referred to the JNU Academic Council (AC).

Faculty expansion as a result of the implementation of the 27 per cent OBC quota and new recruitment as part of the 11th Five Year Plan grants have opened up 149 faculty positions in the university.

The Executive Council (EC),in a meeting on Tuesday,had decided to let the Academic Council deliberate on the matter in the light of a set of 2006 UGC guidelines,of which the AC and EC were purportedly not informed earlier. This document,which had to be placed before every university body but was somehow missed by the university (as admitted by a top university official) has changed matters. There was also an opinion that the AC may need to amend parts of the JNU Act if reservations are extended to all three faculty posts.

The EC had approved the UGC guidelines in April 2007. In November last year,however,a few members of the AC had raised procedural objections to the implementation of the guidelines.

The JNU had been following the requirement of reserving positions at the entry point Assistant Professor only. This new step,which is not legally binding on JNU,has been taken without wide consultation with the faculty, a letter to the JNU Vice-Chancellor signed by former JNU V-Cs and senior faculty members said.

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A senior faculty member who had signed the letter said: I was initially led to believe that no such strongly worded document existed. Now that I have seen it,I consider the argument,that the step is not legally binding,not valid.

The move to refer the matter to the universitys schools and centres will further delay a decision on the matter,pushing back the recruitment process by at least a month and a half.

Speculation is also doing the rounds that the university is resorting to delaying tactics,with the term of the current Vice-Chancellor due to end in June.

On the other hand,the JNU will also have to contend with UGC,which has deducted 10 per cent of the non-plan grants given to Delhi University for non-compliance in the same matter.

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Of the 27 Central Universities,23 have implemented reservations for faculty in all three positions.

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Faculty OBC quota: JNU delays decision

Divided on the issue of implementing 27 per cent OBC reservations in faculty positions as per University Grants Commissions guidelines,the Jawaharlal Nehru University has now referred the decision to its schools and centres.

Divided on the issue of implementing 27 per cent OBC reservations in faculty positions as per University Grants Commissions guidelines,the Jawaharlal Nehru University has now referred the decision to its schools and centres.