The 13-point system is both casteist and unconstitutional, say activists (I)
On January 31, 2019, a protest march was organized from Mandi House to the Parliament Street on the 13 point roster issue. It was in response to the recent Supreme Court judgement which upheld the Allahabad High Court’s verdict on treating a department of a university as a unit for reservations in recruitment instead of the earlier method of treating a university as a unit.
The department-wise reservations in recruitment also bring 13 point roster method which is skewed against SC, ST, OBC groups and renders the constitutional reservations for these groups ineffective. There are concerns that the Indian universities will be monopolized by Brahmins and privileged castes where SC, ST, OBC groups are already under-represented in faculty positions.
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Protest March on Jan 31 Pic: Atul Anand[/caption]
arlier, the 200-point roster system was in place which ensured that teaching positions were reserved by treating the university as one unit. So, a deficit of reserved seats in one department could be compensated by more people from the reserved communities in other departments.
However, the 13-point roster considers each department as one unit. So, for at least one appointment from each reserved category to be applicable, there must be a minimum of 14 appointments made (hence the term 13-point roster). This can have a severely adverse impact on reservation and hence the anger among marginalised communities.
By this new calculation, more than 90% of reserved seats in many departments are transferred to the general category.
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Credit: Project Mukti[/caption]
The University Grants Commission had brought out a notice last year on March 05, 2018 following the Allahabad High Court’s verdict, asking universities to follow the department-wise reservations. That notice was put on hold in July 2018 after protests. Since the Supreme Court has upheld the High Court’s verdict, now universities can resume their recruitment process according to the 13 point roster method. The NDA government could bring a bill or ordinance to protect the interests of SC, ST and OBC groups but so far there has been no such indications from the government.
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