Government committed to quota in faculty positions: Javadekar
New Delhi, July 19 : Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said the Modi government was committed to reservation in the faculty positions of universities and that it does not agree with a court order quashing the 50 per cent reservation.
"The University Grants Commission (UGC) was forced to issue a 13-point roster after an Allahabad High Court ruling last year. But we do not agree with the court order," Javadekar said.
"We have filed two SLPs (special leave petitions). The hearing is scheduled on August 13," Javadekar told the Rajya Sabha after some members raised the issue during Zero Hour.
He said that the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry had already put on hold all interviews for recruitment for teaching positions in universities and colleges which were to be held under the roster pending a decision on the SLPs.
"We are hopeful we will be able to save reservation for Scheduled Castes, Sscheduled Tribes and OBCs. We will neither let it go, nor let others abolish it," he said.
The issue was raised by Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav. He termed the March 5 UGC roster that kept nine out of every 13 teaching positions as unreserved, giving three to OBCs and one to Scheduled Castes, as a "conspiracy" to deprive the SC, ST and the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) of their due as guaranteed by the Constitution.
Yadav was seconded by senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and P.L Punia besides a number of other members siding with the cause.
The Allahabad high Court had in April last year struck down a UGC circular prescribing institution-wise reservation to fill vacant faculty positions. The Supreme Court too upheld the High Court's order, prompting the UGC to issue a circular for reserving seats for SC, ST and OBCs department-wise.
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Delhi CM Atishi may be arrested in fake case: Arvind Kejriwal
New Delhi (PTI): AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal claimed on Wednesday that Delhi Chief Minister Atishi may be arrested in a "fake" case by the central investigative agencies at the behest of the BJP.
Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal, who was flanked by Atishi, said, "We got to know from our sources that a meeting was held and investigative agencies have been ordered by the BJP to arrest CM Atishi in a fake case."
The BJP is trying to distract AAP from campaigning for assembly polls, he alleged.
"We came to know that they are preparing a fake case on Atishi in the transport department, and they want to halt the scheme of free bus rides for women," the AAP chief said.
"I will not let the scheme of free bus rides for women stop till I am alive," Kejriwal, who is out on bail in a case related to excise policy 'scam', asserted.
The former Delhi chief minister, in a post on X, also alleged that the BJP was rattled by AAP's Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojana and Sanjeevani Yojana.
His remarks came as the Delhi government's Women and Child Development and Health departments issued public notices on Wednesday distancing themselves from the ruling AAP's promised schemes of providing Rs 2,100 to women and free treatment for the elderly, triggering a fresh row ahead of assembly polls.
The two departments also cautioned the people against providing personal details to anyone on the pretext of registration for "non-existent" schemes, saying any private individual or political party collecting such physical forms or information is "fraudulent and without any authority".
Led by Kejriwal, AAP leaders recently launched the exercise of registering people for the two schemes with much fanfare.
Atishi said at the press conference that strict action will be taken against Women and Child Development Department officers for issuing a public notice against Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojana.
