Supreme Court Directs Centre, IITs To Allow Reservation In Faculty, Research Degree Admissions As Per 2019 Act

The Supreme Court of India recently directed the Central government and the Indian Institutes of Technology to follow the reservation policy for admission in research degree programmes and recruitment of faculty members as provided under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019 [2019 Act].

"The concerned respondents (Centre and 23 IITs) are hereby directed to follow the reservation and act as per the reservations provided under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019", a Bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar ordered on December 5.

The 2019 Act was established to provide reservation for direct recruitment of candidates from Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the socially and educationally backward classes and the economically weaker sections in Central Educational Institutions.

The Court was considering a plea moved by one Sachchida Nand Pandey in 2021, seeking to direct the respondents to follow the Reservation Policy in the admission in Research Degrees Programs and Recruitment of Faculty in the IITs.

According to the petition moved through Advocate on Record Ashwini Kumar Dubey, the IITs were completely violating the reservation policies envisaged under the 2019 Act, to extent of 15% to the SC, 17% to the ST and 27% to the OBCs.

After the Court sought the responses of the Respondents, the Central government, on behalf of IITs, filed a counter affidavit stating that in line with the 2019 Act, reservation is being provided with respect to all the Central Educational Institutions including the IITs.

This prompted the Court to dispose of the matter while directing the proper implementation of the Act.

It was the petitioner's case that the IITs were not following a transparent process for recruitment of the faculty members. Owing to this, non-deserving candidates entered these prestigious institutions through connections which would increase corruption, favouritism and discrimination, thereby affecting internal ranking and technological growth of India. The plea stated that the current process of taking admissions in the research program and appointment of the IIT faculty members is "completely unconstitutional, illegal and arbitrary".

The plea also sought to cancel the appointment of non-performing faculty due to violation of reservation norms and to formulate a transparent recruitment policy.

Case Title: Sachchida Nand Pandey vs UOI | Writ Petition (Civil) No. 330/2021

Citation : 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 1037

For Petitioner(s) Mr. Ashwani Kumar Dubey, AOR Mr. Saurabh Mishra, Adv.

For Respondent(s) Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Adv. Ms. Pratishtha Vij, Adv. Mr. Akshay C. Shrivastava, Adv. 

Headnotes

Reservation in IITs - Supreme Court directed the Central government and the Indian Institutes of Technology to follow the reservation policy for admission in research degree programmes and recruitment of faculty members as provided under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019 [2019 Act].

Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019 - Supreme Court directs Centre and IITs to follow the reservation and act as per the reservations provided under the Act

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