UoH faculties, non-teaching staff on hunger strike

Hyderabad: On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti, the SC/ST Forum of University of Hyderabad along with other student bodies, organised a relay hunger strike demanding the roll-back of the March 5th UGC-MHRD order on the roster system.

Large number of teachers, non-teaching staff and students of the university participated in the strike. The new roster system puts forth the mandate of department-wise roster of teacher vacancies reserved for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe candidates and dismantles the current norm of having an institution-wise table for filling vacancies.

Last April, the Allahabad high court had struck down a UGC circular prescribing institution-wise reservation to fill vacant faculty positions. The court held that there are departments without any SC/ST teachers. The Supreme Court upheld the high court order later, prompting the UGC, the regulator for universities and colleges in India, to send a proposal to the HRD ministry stating that the number of reserved posts in SC/ST and other backward class categories should be done department-wise. The ministry asked the UGC to go ahead with its proposal.

"The newly proposed system defeats the purpose of reservation in faculty positions by reducing the chances of candidates from SC/ST categories," the UoH staff alleged.