Union Ministry of Education demands to scrap quota for faculty recruitment in IITs

New Delhi: A committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) to suggest measures for effective implementation of reservation policies in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) has recommended that these institutions must exempt from following the reservation policies in faculty recruitment.

The committee had come to such a conclusion primarily on arguments claiming the need for Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) to maintain their academic excellence and the lack of candidates from the reserved categories who fulfil the qualification criteria.

The committee had suggested that Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) be included in the list of Institutes of Excellence that are exempted from reservation policies under the Central Educational Institutes (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act (CEI Act) of 2019.

Currently, eight institutions including the Homi Bhabha National Institute and its constituent units, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Space Physics Laboratory and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing are part of this exempted list.

A committee member had said in a statement, "Being established and recognised as institutions of national importance under an Act of Parliament, IITs have ought to be listed under the Schedule to the above CEI Act, 2019 for exemption from reservations."

To address the diversity issues, the recommendations also argue a "system emphasising targeted goals over a period of time" and not "specific quotas" be followed so that IITs can "compete with other top institutions in the world in terms of excellence, output, research and teaching."

The Committee was constituted in April 2020 with the Director of IIT Delhi, V. Ramgopal Rao, the Chairperson and the Director off IIT Kanpur, Registrars of IIT Bombay and IIT Madras and representatives from Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE), Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Department of Personnel and Training and Department of Persons with Disabilities as members.

It was asked to suggest some measures on effective implementation of reservation policies not only in recruitment, but also for admissions. The committee had met twice in May and had submitted its report on June 17,2020.

The report had mentioned that the expectation from IITs is very high due to their quality and standards of education.

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