Cabinet okays Central Educational Institutions Bill

The Union Cabinet Wednesday approved the introduction of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Bill in the upcoming session of Parliament, which will allow filling up of more than 7,000 existing vacancies by direct recruitment in accordance with a new quota system, the HRD Ministry said.

According to the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, the move is aimed at giving a major push to reforms in the education sector, making it inclusive and keeping in mind the aspirations of the people from different categories.

The Bill will replace the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Ordinance, 2019.

The Cabinet decision will address the long standing demands of persons belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/ Socially and Economically Backward Classes and ensure their rights envisaged under the Constitution, the ministry said, adding it will also ensure providing of 10 per cent reservation to the Economically Weaker Section.

The ministry said the introduction of the Bill will allow filling up of more than 7,000 existing vacancies in teachers' cadre by direct recruitment.

The ministry also said that the Bill is expected to improve the teaching standards in the higher educational institutions by attracting all eligible talented candidates belonging to SCs/STs/SEBCs/EWS.

The bill will consider the university/college as one unit restoring earlier reservation system based on a 200-point roster.

The unit for reservation of posts in direct recruitment in teachers' cadre will be the university/educational institutions, and not the department.

In March, the Cabinet had cleared an ordinance on reservation mechanism for appointment of faculties in universities.

The University Grants Commission had announced in March last year that an individual department should be considered as the base unit to calculate the number of teaching posts to be reserved for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates, following an order by the Allahabad High Court in April 2017.

The Supreme Court had in February dismissed a review petition filed by the HRD Ministry after its special leave petition against the court order was rejected by the apex court.

This was met with protests from teachers and students across the country.