All 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have requested the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to exempt them from following reservation rules in recruiting teaching staff. The request came after the MHRD sent a special communication to all IIMs on Wednesday to ensure 'reservation of posts in direct recruitment', considering the institute as a unit as specified in the Act that came into effect on March 7, 2019. According to a report in The Print, there are only 11 faculty members from the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes category across 20 IIMs in the country.
According to officials, the B-schools have made the request saying they adopt a fair recruitment process and give equal opportunities to all, including disadvantaged sections of society. Currently, reservation is provided to applicants from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections.
IIMs at present do not allocate reservation in teaching posts to candidates from SC, ST, OBC and EWS categories. As per the existing norms followed by other educational institutions, 15% of teaching posts is allocated for SC, 7.5% for ST, 27% for OBC and 10% for EWS applicants. The IIMs cite a 1975-order of the Department of Personnel & Training that exempted scientific and technical posts from the reservation policy for not following the reservation rules. IIM- Ahmedabad is caught in a battle on the issue in the high court.
In November 2019, the MHRD wrote to all institutes to ensure implementation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act. According to Indian Express, the order clearly stated that it supersedes all previous orders/notifications/communications issued by the MHRD to the IIMs related to faculty reservations. This order also directed the IIMs to prepare a reservation roster and stated that all future faculty recruitments must be done as per the reservation roster.
The ministry’s order regarding following the reservation came after the Parliamentary Committee on the welfare of OBCs questioned the government over not providing reservation for OBC in educational institutions especially the Kendriya Vidyalayas, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and the IIMs.