OU flouts reservation rules, No SC, ST teaching staff in 32 departments

Hyderabad: The Osmania University has not been following the reservation rule in recruiting its teaching staff, including professors and assistant professors, in various departments. Around 32 departments in the university do not have a single professor from either the Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST), which is a violation of the reservation rules.

According to the Rule of Reservation or the rooster rules, 15 per cent of vacancies should be reserved for SCs and six per cent for STs.

The SCST commission, in a meeting held in the university, raised questions regarding the recruitment and reservation rules. The commission asked the varsity why resource persons from the SC and ST community were neglected over the years and asked the university to follow the rule of reservation in the departments.

Meanwhile, the OU has said that it has followed the University of Grants Commission (UGC) rules in departmental recruitment, which is based on subject requirement and student ratio. The varsity also said the rule of reservation is maintained in direct recruitment, however, when it comes to departments the reservation rules were not followed as some courses did not require a student strength.

Regarding this issue, Dr Errolla Srinivas, chairman of Telangana State Commission for SC and ST, asked the university registrar to form a five-member internal committee in the campus to check the appointment of teaching staff and inquire why the rule of reservation was not implemented and rooster system not followed and what can be done to rectify the issue. Regarding the shortage of non-teaching staff, the commission has asked the university to write a letter to the state government requesting to conduct recruitment as soon as possible.

As per the university's official document, of the total 1,267 sanctioned posts only 448 posts have been filled. There has been no recruitment of new professors after the formation of Telangana and several other professors are scheduled for retirement in 2020.

The commission also sought details of measures being taken for the welfare of SC and ST students in the university and inquired about coaching facilities for competetive exams, which has been halted in the varsity as of now.

Several officials, including registrar Prof. Gopal Reddy, deans of various faculties, principals of various campuses and constituent colleges, non-teaching staff, and students attended the meeting.