Jawaharlal Nehru University, which has been at the forefront of reservation, is now gearing to change its tack by reviewing its reservation policy in teaching jobs.
Like IITs, JNU is planning that reservation for SCs/STs/OBCs should only be given at the entry level, that is at the level of assistant professor. So far, JNU has been giving reservation at all three levels: assistant professor, associate professor and professor.
The university’s Executive Council will take up the reservation policy as an important item in its agenda at its meeting on Tuesday. Though JNU vice-chancellor B B Bhattacharya refused to talk, saying he would not comment before the EC meeting, it is believed that HRD ministry has told him that the university cannot dilute the reservation policy. It has even been pointed out that EC is not the competent authority to do away with reservation policy.
University sources said the process of reviewing reservation started during the Academic Council meeting on November 25, 2009 at the behest of some faculty members who told the V-C that JNU should do away with it since there is no law. But JNU teachers are protesting and have already given a memorandum to the V-C, requesting him not to proceed with the review. Teachers said reservation emanated from the Constitution and was implemented by the executive orders of the government of India. ‘‘All central universities are implementing reservation policy and JNU cannot be an exception in this regard,’’ the memorandum noted.
It was pointed out to the V-C the decision to implement SC/ST/OBC reservation across the three teaching cadres was approved by the JNU EC in April, 2007. JNU teachers have also told the V-C that after the 2007 decision, teaching jobs advertized in 2008 and 2009 followed the reservation policy.(TNN)
Official Site: http://www.jnu.ac.in/
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