In an attempt to control the situation created by the University Grants Commission (UGC), just before the parliamentary elections, the Ministry of Education was quick to clarify on Sunday that “no reserved post is to be de-reserved”. The draft of the ‘Guidelines for Implementation of the Reservation Policy of the Government of India in Higher Education Institutes (HEIs)’ states that a vacancy reserved for SC, SC or OBC “may be declared unreserved” if enough candidates are not available from these categories.

It caused outcry from all corners of the country, prompting the Ministry of Education make a clarification: “Reservation in Central Educational Institutions (CEI) is provided for all posts in direct recruitment in Teacher’s cadre as per the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019. this Act, no reserved post is to be de-reserved. Ministry of Education has given directives to all the CEIs to fill up the vacancies strictly as per the 2019 ACT.”

UGC Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar reiterated on X, “This is to clarify that there has been no de-reservation of reserved category positions in Central Educational Institutions (CEI) in the past and there is going to be no such de-reservation. It is important for all HEIs to ensure that all backlog positions in reserved category are filled up through concerted efforts”.

However, the controversy continued on Monday and making use of the blunder from BJP, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi declared that the new draft of UGC is a “conspiracy to end the reservation given to SC, ST and OBC categories in higher education institutions.” He highlighted that out of approximately 7,000 reserved posts in 45 central universities, 3,000 are vacant, and of which only 7.1 per cent are Dalit, 1.6 per cent tribal and 4.5 per cent backward class professors.

Gandhi further assured that “Congress will never allow this to happen – we will continue to fight for social justice and will fill these vacant posts only with qualified candidates from reserved categories.”

Earlier the Congress had demanded for the immediate dismissal of the UCG Chairman and an apology from him to SC, ST and OBC.

All India Students Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union held protests outside the UGC headquarter in New Delhi demanding the immediate withdrawal of the draft.