The Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) today organised a mass hunger strike to protest the UGC circular on faculty reservation mechanism for universities, it said in a statement today.
Following an Allahabad High Court order - upheld by the Supreme Court - the University Grants Commission (UGC) had on March 5 announced a new mechanism for implementing faculty reservations, which is calculating total posts department-wise rather than institution-wise.
The UGC had said that its new reservation formula was in response to a direction of the Allahabad High Court in April last year.
It is believed that the move would cut down the number of posts available for SC and ST candidates.
Teachers and students took part in the satyagraha and mass hunger strike at the Parliament Street between 10 am and 5.30 pm today, DUTA said.
The teachers' body said the Ministry of Human Resource Development has filed a special leave petition to undo the move that has sparked a controversy.
"If the UGC notification is not withdrawn, it will set the affirmative policy of social justice through reservation back by a decade. A whole generation of research scholars from SC, ST and OBC categories who are waiting for academic jobs will get excluded by this absurd anti-reservation decision," it said.
The DUTA said it will create chaos and mass-displacement among the ad-hoc teachers in Delhi University when they will be due for re-appointment in July.
All current ad-hoc teachers have been appointed according to the 200-point college/university-wise roster which is to be discontinued, according to the March 5 notification, the teacher's body said.
The DUTA also warned the UGC and the HRD ministry that even if a single ad-hoc teacher is displaced in July, the Delhi University would proceed on a complete lockdown in the new session.
A general body meeting will also be held on June 1 to decide future course of action, it said.
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