Parliamentary panel slams JNU on SC/ST vacancies

NEW DELHI, April 27: A parliamentary panel has flayed the JNU administration for what it said was “insouciant attitude” on faculty vacancies meant to be filled from among the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe candidates.

A parliamentary standing committee on the welfare of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes said the “idequate representation of SC/STs in the teaching faculty in such a premier education institution points to a failure somewhere down the line in the educatiol system, whereby students from the reserved categories are not able to come up to such educatiol standards”.

The panel is headed by Faggan Singh Kulaste (BJP) and includes Santokh Singh Chaudhary (Congress), Kariya Munda (BJP), Pratima Mondal (Trimool Congress), Ramdas Athawale (RPI) and D. Raja (CPI) as members.

“The committee would like to stress that it is high time that the Jawaharlal Nehru University introspect on this issue,” said the 30-member committee. The committee said that it is disconcerted by the “litany of excuses” put forth by the JNU that either the candidates do not apply or do not fulfil the essential qualifications and specialisations advertised to justify the current shortfall. It expressed “grave displeasure on the insouciant attitude of the JNU” in this regard and lamented that “the committee is baffled to note with concern that despite there being provision of reservation at the assistant professor level there are still unfilled 14 SC and nine ST vacancies. (IANS)