3% quota for disabled ignored in appointment of teachers at Madras university
Siddharth Prabhakar| TNN | Oct 6, 2017, 09:55 IST
Madras university.
CHENNAI: University of Madras recently processed orders increasing the seats reserved for differently-abled students from 3% to 5%, but has not been able to implement even the 3% reservation in the recruitment of teaching staff. The situation is the same at other universities in Tamil Nadu.
In 2014, University of Madras called for and hired 95 professors, the largest recruitment drive at a state university in recent times. However, not a single post was filled under the 3% reservation due for people with disabilities (PWDs).The notification for the posts initially did not specify PWD or any fee concession and did not mention that posts were reserved for the differently abled.
In response to an application filed under the Right To Information (RTI) Act by C M Karunakkaran, a research scholar, the university replied that it had followed a 200-point roster as per a 2009 Tamil Nadu government order, whereby every department of the university was treated as a single unit.
As every department had only four or five professor posts, the turn of a differently-abled person may not be due, it sa id. A senior official in the state higher education department said this was why universities were unable to implement the rule.
Karunakkaran said this was erroneous as the whole university should be seen as an establishment and not as an institution of individual departments as per the PWD Act 1995 and the UGC Act 1956. "Also, communal reservation procedure (university department wise) is not applicable to PWD reservation," he said, quoting previous high court and Supreme Court orders.
In its response to the RTI query , the university circumvented a direct question on appointments made under Section 33 of PWD (equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation) Act, 1995. "Such candidates possessing high academic calibre would be definitely considered for appointment to any duly advertised post," it said. Universities hence have been recruiting PWD professors only on compassionate grounds instead of following the reservation norms in letter and spirit, Karunakkaran said.
The government official said they would look into the issue and try to iron out the inconsistencies, if any.
Siddharth Prabhakar| TNN | Oct 6, 2017, 09:55 IST
Madras university.
CHENNAI: University of Madras recently processed orders increasing the seats reserved for differently-abled students from 3% to 5%, but has not been able to implement even the 3% reservation in the recruitment of teaching staff. The situation is the same at other universities in Tamil Nadu.
In 2014, University of Madras called for and hired 95 professors, the largest recruitment drive at a state university in recent times. However, not a single post was filled under the 3% reservation due for people with disabilities (PWDs).The notification for the posts initially did not specify PWD or any fee concession and did not mention that posts were reserved for the differently abled.
In response to an application filed under the Right To Information (RTI) Act by C M Karunakkaran, a research scholar, the university replied that it had followed a 200-point roster as per a 2009 Tamil Nadu government order, whereby every department of the university was treated as a single unit.
As every department had only four or five professor posts, the turn of a differently-abled person may not be due, it sa id. A senior official in the state higher education department said this was why universities were unable to implement the rule.
Karunakkaran said this was erroneous as the whole university should be seen as an establishment and not as an institution of individual departments as per the PWD Act 1995 and the UGC Act 1956. "Also, communal reservation procedure (university department wise) is not applicable to PWD reservation," he said, quoting previous high court and Supreme Court orders.
In its response to the RTI query , the university circumvented a direct question on appointments made under Section 33 of PWD (equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation) Act, 1995. "Such candidates possessing high academic calibre would be definitely considered for appointment to any duly advertised post," it said. Universities hence have been recruiting PWD professors only on compassionate grounds instead of following the reservation norms in letter and spirit, Karunakkaran said.
The government official said they would look into the issue and try to iron out the inconsistencies, if any.
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