The Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) has written to HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar demanding an ordinance on reservation roster for teaching positions in higher education institutions (HEIs).
The University Grants Commission (UGC) had announced in March last that an individual department should be considered as the base unit to calculate the number of teaching posts to be reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates following an order by the Allahabad High Court in April 2017.
The HRD Ministry had filed a special leave petition against the court order which was rejected by the Supreme Court order.
The DUTA wrote a letter to Javadekar, urging him to bring a bill or ordinance to restore the 200-point reservation roster on the basis of college or university as a unit.
"You have reiterated on more than one occasion the intention of the Union government to promulgate an ordinance to restore the college or university wise reservation roster. Recent disturbing developments and their far-reaching implications require immediate steps for bringing such a bill or ordinance," the DUTA said.
The department-wise roster will result in a massive reduction of teaching posts for aspirants from ST, SC and OBC backgrounds, thereby drastically reducing their representation and participation in higher education, the teachers' body said in the letter.
"It will push out from universities a large number of teachers from ST, SC and OBC backgrounds who have been working on ad hoc or temporary basis with a hope of getting permanent jobs," the DUTA said.
Additionally, in the colleges of Delhi University, an unforgivable chaotic situation is going to arise unless the government moves immediately, it added.
"For past several years, over 4,000 teachers in Delhi University and its colleges have been working on ad hoc basis. Since 2013, they have been employed as per 200-point roster treating college as a unit," the DUTA said.
They are subjected to enforced breaks after every four months and reappointed thereafter. Any change from the college or university-wise roster will change the nature of the posts against which they are working, it said.
"Change in the nature of teaching posts will affect teachers from all categories. Mass displacement of teachers will also result in loss of livelihood for many," the letter said.
The DUTA has already made representations for putting in place a UGC regulation for one-time absorption of these teachers given the fact that the process of permanent appointment in the DU.
Teachers protested on Thursday in the varsity campus against the Supreme Court decision of rejecting the ministry's special leave petition.
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