Reservations are as much of a truth in Delhi University, as is sunshine on a summer day. Not getting into the much controversial debate of whether reservations are entirely justified or not; one can boldly state the facts, saying that there is a provision for reservation in three principal social segments of higher education, that being, the students, the non-teaching staff and the teaching staff. Since its implementation (after the pressure from UGC and the government in 1996) the appointments in the reserved category have been practiced in the university and its affiliated colleges. But never does the implementation of procedures come without the occasional scams.
In June last year there was the ‘fake certificate’ scandal which helped 12 students get admission in DU on the basis of fake ‘SC/ST certificate’. And now, the Ramjas teacher quits after the OBC quota row. Sudhir Kumar, an ad hoc statistics teacher, teaching in Ramjas resigned on Tuesday after being asked to relinquish his post. He got the teaching post by stating himself under the OBC category but is allegedly a member of the general category, following the response to a RTI application. Though he was an ad-hoc and his appointment remained valid for 4 months, he had completed serving for one-and-a-half year till date. His application for extension of employment was renewed at least 4 times.
The mechanism of how it all works throws light on the fact that Delhi University follows the Central list for making appointments from the reserved categories. Each department in the college maintains a list of ad hoc teachers who’ve applied in each category, to be used when the vacancy arises in the college. The college demands this list from each department and makes appointments after conducting selection rounds for the applicants stated there-in.
Now, the case in question stems from the fact that Sudhir Kumar who was appointed under the OBC category as an ad hoc lecturer in 2009 does not belong to the category of ‘Kumar’ stated in the OBC list (as is dictated by the central list). This all was revealed after the reply to a RTI application filed on the issue.
What follows any scam is a huge blame game and so has happened in this particular case. The college authorities feel it’s the consequence of the departments’ negligence because they make appointments based on the lists supplied to them by the respective departments. On the other hand, the department feels that they are not to be blamed for such a fallout, given that they have no procedure to check the authenticity of the OBC certificates submitted to them by the potential candidate.
And so turns out that no one feels entirely responsible for the statistics teacher getting away with his not-so-perfect con for one-and-a-half year before getting caught. Yes, DU never ceases to amaze me.
Mannat Sandhu
mannats@dubeat.com
