Lok Sabha takes up discussion on Bill to provide reservation for teachers

The Lok Sabha on Monday took up for discussion a Bill that provides for university and college to be considered a unit for providing reservation instead of a "department /subject" with Human Resources Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal stating that the legislation was in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution to provide reservation to the weaker sections. Moving the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Bill, 2019 Bill for consideration and passage in the House, he said the Bill also provides for giving 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker sections.

He said there were 7,000 vacancies in the higher education sector which will be fulfilled under a roster system that provides constitutionally mandated reservation to the weaker sections including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Bill seeks to replace an ordinance brought by the government in March this year.

It provides for considering the university/college as one unit restoring earlier reservation system based on 200 point roster to ensure that the weaker sections get their due in vacancies in higher educational institutions. Justifying the decision to bring an ordinance, Pokhriyal said the government wanted to meet the objectives of the constitution. He said the courts had given a verdict against the 2006 directive of UGC to provide reservation by considering university as a unit and the review petitions had also been rejected.

Participating in the debate, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the party was not opposed to the provisions of the Bill but against the government resorting to ordinances. He said the Modi government had the highest bills-to-ordinances ratio and for every 10 bills introduced, four were to replace ordinances.

"We are opposing arbitrary invocation of ordinances," he said. Chowdhury also demanded that the bill should be sent to the standing committee for scrutiny.

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