According to information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the government has issued three letters to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) requesting that the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers Cadre) Act, 2019 be implemented as soon as possible, according to Hindustan Times. A flexible academic cadre structure will be allowed by the act.

The first contact occurred on September 17, 2020, according to an RTI submitted by an education activist who wishes to remain anonymous. On February 10, 2021, this was followed by a letter. The most recent letter in the series was published on July 16. The most recent letter reaffirmed the directions to respect the reservations policy.

It has now been revealed that the Central Government has been following up with institutes on the issue. Emails sent to Amit Khare, the MoE’s secretary of higher education, received no answer.

Subhasis Chaudhuri, director of IIT-Bombay, verified receiving the letter to a national publication. “Yes, there has been a letter from the Ministry of Education in this respect, and because IITs operate a flexible cadre system, we would seek direction from our board of governors on this,” the director was cited as saying by Hindustan Times.

Unlike other institutions, the CFTIs use a flexible cadre system. This indicates that the authorised faculty strength at each grade level is not fixed. During their careers, faculty members advance from assistant to associate to professor positions. Until 2019, only entry-level assistant professors were eligible for reservations, but the government has subsequently expanded the programme to include all posts.

For the record, there are no more than six Scheduled Tribe (ST) instructors at any of the 23 IITs out of which data for IIT-Mandi was not available. There are as few as 10 faculty members from the Scheduled Caste (SC) category at as many as 18 IITs.

Previously, it was stated that the majority of CFTI institutions were resistant to applying the new standards. V Ramgopal Rao, the director of IIT-Delhi, also acknowledged receiving letters from the MoE.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here