Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank told Lok Sabha in a written response to a question from three Congress MPs that more than half of the faculty positions reserved for OBCs in central institutions of higher education are vacant, while about 40% of those reserved for Scheduled Castes and Tribes also remain unfilled.
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The situation is particularly acute in the elite Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), where more than 60% of SC and OBC reserved positions are vacant, while almost 80% of positions reserved for the STs have not been filled.
This means that out of 24 positions reserved for the STs, only five have been filled.
For the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), data has only been provided for non-faculty positions.
Both the IITs and the IIMs have been lobbying for exemption from such faculty quota requirements.
Within the Central Universities, vacancies were higher at the level of professors. Less than 1% of the 1,062 professors in Central universities are from the ST communities.
Despite the high levels of vacancies, Education Minister claimed that, “After implementation of ‘The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019’, the OBC reservation has been implemented at all levels.”
