Demand for immediate withdrawal of new UGC draft guidelines intensifies

Visakhapatnam: AP Congress OBC Department chairman Mula Venkata Rao demanded that the new draft guidelines issued by the UGC on the implementation of reservation in higher education should be withdrawn with immediate effect.

The new draft guidelines of the UGC, proposing that any vacancy reserved for SC, ST and OBC candidates can be declared unreserved if enough candidates from such categories were unavailable.

The AP Congress OBC Department chairman said the proposal drew criticism and it will nullify the protection extended to the OBCs. “The number of OBC faculty in higher education institutions across the country is already nominal. According to recent statistics, only 4 percent of professors and 6 percent of assistant professors in all central universities in the country are OBC candidates,” he recalled.

Also, the Central Education Act - 2019 prevents the de-reservation of posts reserved for OBCs in relation to teacher cadre appointments, Venkata Rao stated. Keeping the challenges in view, chairman of the AP Congress OBC Department demanded that the Prime Minister should pay attention to the issue and ensure that injustice is not met to the OBCs in filling posts across various universities in the country.