Ordinance on 200-point roster system in university is complete eyewash: Upendra Kushwaha

Former Union Minister and RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha Friday termed the Centres decision on Ordinance to bring back 200-point roster based reservation as eyewash because it has not helped the people of reserved categories earlier nor would do so in future. Kushwaha, a former Union minister of state for HRD, criticism came a day after the Union cabinet had on Thursday approved a proposal for promulgation of The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Ordinance, 2019 to restore the earlier 200-point roster based reservation system in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

The Ordinance is nothing but an eyewash as it is not going to help the people belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories...The government, which has brought the ordinance under compulsion because of protests across the country, has cheated the people and they would teach them a lesson in the polls, Kushwaha told reporters during a press-meet convened at his party here. The new system will consider the university or college as one unit, instead of treating department or subject as one unit.

The ordinance will ensure that constitutional provisions of reservation for SC, ST and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBL) in the faculty recruitment will be protected and current impasse in recruitment would be resolved. Kushwaha, however, asserted that the centre should implement the reservation for OBCs in the appointment of Professors and Associate Professors in Central Universities.

In order to drive home his point, the RLSP leader cited a government figure as per which, he claimed, the reservation was not implemented in the appointment of Professors and Associate Professors. This is evident from the fact that no OBC candidates have been appointed to the posts of Professor and Associate Professor while it (OBC) constitutes 14.38 per cent in the appointment of Assistant Professor against its sanctioned quota of 27 per cent, he said.

The figure talks about the appointments made in the central universities till April 1, 2018, he added. Stating that SCs and STs also did not get their due share in the appointments of all three faculty positions, Kushwaha, while citing government figures, said that SC and ST candidates occupied 3.47 per cent and 0.7 per cent in the appointment of top faculty position (Professor) while SC and ST have a share of 4.96 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively in the appointment of Associate Professor against their respective quota of 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent.

The former minister reiterated his demand for reservation for all castes in proportion to their respective share in the population especially in the backdrop of centre breaking the barrier of 50 per cent ceiling while extending benefit of reservation to economically weaker sections of unreserved category. Once the barrier (of 50 per cent cap in giving reservation) has been broken, then the government should give everyone (OBC, SC and ST) reservation as per their share in population, he asserted.

Asked why he, as a minister of state for HRD, did not take steps to correct the anomalies in the roster system for appointment of faculty positions, Kushwaha said that I was fighting the battle within the government. But everyone knows as what is the status of a minister of state in Narendra Modi led government. He, however, dodged all the queries relating to grand alliance especially the issue of seat-sharing, which it seems, becoming a difficult task for them to clinch a proper deal given the numbers of allies..

(With inputs from agencies.)