Reservation roster: UGC asks varsities to put recruitment on hold

The appointment of academic staff in higher education institutions (HEIs) has been put on hold by the UGC till the Supreme Court issues its verdict on the special leave petition filed by the HRD Ministry against a court order curtailing reservation for SC/ST and OBCs.

The UGC had announced in March that an individual department should be considered as the base unit to calculate the number of teaching posts to be reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates following an order by the Allahabad High Court in April last year, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.

The top court will hear a review petition by the government on the issue soon.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued a communication to all universities and HEIs to "postpone the recruitment process, if it is already underway, till further orders".

The commission had earlier directed all educational institutions getting grants-in-aid that reservations for SC/ST teacher posts be calculated department-wise rather than institution-wise.
The UGC's directive was based on the Allahabad High Court directive. However, after protest against the move, the HRD Ministry and the UGC had filed the special leave petition to withdraw the order and asked the educational institutions not to hire any faculty member using the new formula. However, there has been no clarity on which formula to be followed while making the roster.