Several students along with teaching and non-teaching staff have been on a relay hunger strike at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) since December 24, alleging non-implementation of the stipulated reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) students. Talks with the university administration failed on Monday, the fifth day of protest, but even as negotiations were going on, around 10 non-teaching staff members received show-cause notices for participating in the ‘illegal protest’ on Monday.
“If this is an illegal protest, why would the administration call us for negotiation? This itself shows the double standards of the university. When we questioned the Pro-Vice Chancellor-II (Prof B Raja Sekhar), who was in charge of the negotiations with us, he said he was not aware of the notices,” said M Bala Krishna, a Senior Section Officer, who received the notice after participating in the protest.
“This is an attempt to make the protest weak. They have served notices to make us afraid of consequences and disciplinary action. But the protest will become much stronger now. What is more ironic is that they have served notices to people who were on leave and to staff who were not physically present at the protest,” Bala Krishna added.
According to students, on November 12, 2020, members of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) visited the University and conducted a public hearing on various issues. During the meet, the NCBC delegation received 14 individual complaints and ordered the university to submit an action taken report within a month. However, there has been no response from the administration, the protesters say.
Speaking to The News Minute, Jajula Naresh Yadav, National Coordinator of All India Other Backward Classes Students Association (AIOBCSA) said that there have been discrepancies in filling up of MPhill and PhD vacant seats in the reservation category for OBC, Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students. “Despite having a designated procedure, the university administration is changing rules,” Naresh alleged.
Citing an example of a student’s admission, Naresh said, “For one student, Mukteshwar, PhD admission was denied. He was part of the movement to implement OBC reservation in the university as a postgraduate student. A new procedure was introduced, which is not there in the university prospectus. According to the rules, there are designated marks for research publication and work experience, based on which Mukteshwar was on the top of the list. Then his marks for those two categories were lowered by a committee and the revised results were announced, due to which he lost his admission.”
This was one of the cases brought to the notice of the NCBC, which ruled in favour of Mukteshwar and issued an order (a copy of which is with TNM) to give him admission. The NCBC also instructed the university to “take required steps to prevent personal targeting” of the students. The judgement was passed on December 12 and the university was supposed to respond within 15 days. However, there has been no response in this regard, students alleged.
The protesters said that there were individual admission issues and job-related issues for teaching and non teaching staff, and demanded that the university take action as early as possible. As stated by the All India OBC students Association, the protesters have put forward a list of demands.
1. Send the action taken report to the NCBC and also implement the NCBC order dated December 12.
2. Vacant PhD and MPhil seats, as some students have left after getting admission in other universities, should be filled with waiting list candidates. These seats are not notified in the January 2021 PhD admission notification.
3. The University should follow the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulation, 2018 regarding the allocation of PhD seats to Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor. The students alleged that some schools were strictly implementing this formula, while some weren’t.
4. The OBC fee structure should be on par with SCs and STs.
5. An academician with command on OBC issues should be hired as a Liaison Officer on the lines of SC/ST cell.
Meanwhile, non-teaching staff demanded immediate withdrawal of memos and show cause notices issued.
“Immediate implementation of procedure of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in merging of Junior Lab Assistant (JLA) and Senior Lab Assistant (SLA) to laboratory assistant should be followed,” they demanded, adding that an OBC grievance cell should be formed to solve issues of OBC employees.
The teaching staff demanded, “Implementation of the rule of reservations in Institution of Eminence (IoE) research projects and faculty positions,” besides appointment of OBC faculty members in administrative positions.
Speaking to TNM, University of Hyderabad spokesperson Vinod Pavarala refuted the allegations of non-implementation of OBC reservation. "We are an institution with statutory obligations. There is absolutely no case of reservation policy not being implemented in the university as we abide by the policy."
Asked about the NCBC’s directions, he said, "The university has written to the Chairman of the NCBC seeking clarifications on their directive. We are awaiting a response for further action."
Speaking about the specific case that the students cited, the UoH spokesperson said that its decision was upheld by a Deans Committee report and Admissions Grievances committee report. "Qualifying marks in MPhil and PhD admission are being implemented as per the UGC regulation. It very clearly says that 50% is cut off for the general category while it is 45% for the other categories," he added.
(With inputs from Charan Teja)