The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have approached the HRD Ministry seeking exemption from the reservation in faculty positions for the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Class (OBC) and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), The Indian Express reported.
Last week, the 20 IIMs requested the HRD ministry to add them to the list of institutes of excellence mentioned in the new Central Education Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act of 2019.
According to the Section 4 of the Act, few institutions of excellence, research institutions, institutions of national and strategic importance are exempted from providing reservation.
A source told The Indian Express that since there is a precedence of exemption from the Act, the IIMs have also requested it. They told the daily that the institutes have argued that their recruitment process is fair and that they are trying to employ candidates from disadvantaged sections of the society.
According to HRD ministry data cited by TIE, over 90 percent of the current faculty across 20 IIMs is from the general category.
Currently, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, National Brain Research Centre, North-Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Science, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Physical Research Laboratory, Space Physics Laboratory, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing and Homi Bhabha National Institute and all its 10 constituent units fall under the categories exempted from Reservation.
The IITs, on the other hand, have been implementing reservation at the entry level since 2008.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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