The Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Friday visited Delhi University and held a series of meetings with faculty members to assess the varsity’s compliance with constitutional mandates on reservation in faculty appointments nd administrative posts.
The visit was formally announced through a university circular dated April 8, which listed 16 faculty members from across DU’s colleges and departments who were called to interact with the Committee.
The stated agenda was to “discuss the matters with regard to implementation of reservation policy in admissions, in filling up the teaching and non-teaching positions and other measures undertaken to safeguard the rights of persons belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes”.
Speaking to The Indian Express, a higher official said on the condition of anonymity, “The University has shared a presentation with the Committee with all data of representation of SC/ST persons across different posts in colleges.
We currently have at least four principals who belong to the SC/ST community. There was a discussion about following the roster for appointments and it has been conveyed that since the selection process has begun at the varsity, there has been no violation of any rules.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) alleged systemic denial of reserved category appointments due to reasons like “not found suitable (NFS)” candidate, “no candidate shortlisted (NCS)”, contractualisation, and roster manipulation.
“DU has failed to fulfil its constitutional obligation to reservation,” a DTF note presented to the Committee stated.
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Drawing from Executive Council records and internal hiring data, the teachers flagged that despite the availability of qualified candidates from SC/ST/OBC/EWS categories, multiple positions across departments remained unfilled.
“For professor-level posts, 62 per cent were marked NFS,” one submission noted, attaching pie charts and recruitment tables.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Mithuraj Dhusia from Hansraj College said, “We had provided some database that we collected to the parliamentary committee to which the committee said it will go through and flag gaps, if any, to the varsity.”
“The University must necessarily review the revised criteria adopted for shortlisting,” the memorandum demanded.
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The teachers also raised concern over the increasing contractualisation of jobs, warning that it was leading to “de-reservation”.
“A large number of teachers are working on a guest basis across colleges, especially in units like NCWEB and the School of Open Learning,” the DTF told the Committee.