Union Cabinet approves ordinance to restore 200-point roster on reservation in faculty jobs at higher education institutes

The Union Cabinet has approved an Ordinance to restore the ‘200-point roster system’ for reservation in faculty jobs at higher education institutes. This was the last meeting of the Cabinet before the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Reservation for teachers will now be implemented, taking each university as a unit to calculate the number of teaching posts to be reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates, reports say. The Ordinance, in effect, reverses the Allahabad High Court order of 2017, based on which the University Grants Commission (UGC) had announced last March that an individual department should be considered as the base unit. [caption id=“attachment_4493865” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar. Getty images[/caption] Days after the Supreme Court dismissed a special leave petition filed by the HRD ministry against the imposition of what is popularly known as the “13-point roster system” — a new method of appointing teaching faculty — the government, on Tuesday, had announced its decision to come out with an Ordinance to go back to the earlier system, which apparently ensured greater number of faculty seats were reserved for SC/ST communities in colleges. Under the 13-point system, the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth teaching posts were unreserved in a particular department, while the fourth vacancy was reserved for OBCs, the seventh for SCs, the 14th post for STs and the eighth and 12th for OBCs. The ninth, 10th and 11th were unreserved. However, the members of the SC/ST community objected to this system citing the disparity in number of reserved seats in various departments. They said that a problem arises when the size of departments are small. In departments with fewer than four available positions, no reserved seat will be created at all. On the other hand, when thenumber of seats are more than 14 in any department, it becomes difficult to ensure reservation to all SC/ST/OBC posts. In the now restored, 200-point roster system, 99 posts will be reserved for SC, ST and OBC communities uniformly. The remaining 101 posts will be kept for the unreserved. In case of a deficit in reserved seats in one department, more people from reserved communities could be employed in other departments at the university under this system. _Find a detailed explainer on the arguments for and against the 200-point roster here_   However, the government’s move hardly comes as a surprise as the Union minister for Human Resource Development, Prakash Javadekar had earlier hinted that the Centre was in “favour of the 200-point roster”. The Ordinance will come in effect after the presidential nod, however, it will only be valid till the Lok Sabha is dissolved at the end of the NDA government’s five-year-term. A new government, following the Lok Sabha elections 2019, will have to make a permanent law in this regard to ensure that the status quo is maintained.