JNU students protest outside UGC over OBC reservation issue

 JNU students led by union president Kanhaiya Kumar on Wednesday staged a protest outside UGC office demanding that reservation to OBC candidates be granted during appointments at Associate Professor level.

The students claimed that UGC had recently said 27 per OBC reservation is applicable only at the level of Assistant Professor and demanded that the reservation be implemented at Professor and Associate Professor level as well. However, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had on Tuesday clarified that there has been no change in reservation policy for teachers in universities.

The protesting students submitted a memorandum to UGC officials demanding that the OBC reservation be implemented at both professor and associate professor level, in promotions and the number of national fellowships for OBCs be increased. In a recent letter to Registrar of Universities, the UGC said that there has been no change in the reservation policy in faculty positions in central universities.

In the letter, UGC had said that in teaching positions reservation for SCs in 15 per cent, STs 7.5 per cent is applicable at all three levels- Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor. The letter added that in case of OBCs, 27 per cent reservation is applicable only at the level of Assistant Professor only.