India being a country known for its cultural, social, economic and religious diversities also has different enactments based on these factors. One of the important features of Indian laws are many of them enacted exclusively for the protection of rights of people belonging to downtrodden classes as the socio-cultural and religious background plays a vital part in their lives in Indian society. Only through proper implementation of laws people who are marginalized can be uplifted to make them a part of mainstream society. In the field of education and teaching people from such less fortunate backgrounds have come up with equivalent qualities of others from the mainstream society by proper utilization of reservation rights consolidated by the Constitution of India and other enactments. The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation In Teacher’s) Act 2019 was enacted on 9 July 2019 for the reservation appointments in educational establishment administered and controlled by the Central Government.
The act has six comphrensive sections related to all matters in the appointment of posts through direct recruitment of individuals belonging to scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, educationally backward classes and economically weaker in certain educational institutions by the Central Government. The provisions of the Act is applicable to institutions aided or maintained by the Central Government.
Section 2 of the act enumerates the ambit of teacher’s cadre as the class of all the teachers regardless of the branch of study or faculty remunerated at the same grade of pay in Central Government educational institutions excluding any allowance or bonus. Section three implies that the appointment through direct recruitment is subjective to the provisions of any existing laws and by the Central Government notifications in the Gazette.
Section 4 is the exceptional clause of section 3 as such appointments can’t be done in research institutions, institutions of excellence, minority educational institutions and in institutions of national and strategic importance.
Section 5 and section six enumerates the process of putting the notification before the parliament and repeal and saving sections respectively.
Though the Act was intended for filling up about 7,000 vacancies in the teaching profession arena and upliftment of persons from downtrodden and economically backward classes in Central Government educational Institutions the section 4 of the exceptional clause of the Act had invited controversies. One of the major allegation of the section 4 is that it was a hypocritical approach towards the people belonging to the reservation category even in the extremely advanced modern time. Exclusion of reservation category from the institutions of excellence, and in the institutions mentioned in section 4 shows the social stigma of ostracizing them from the mainstream society based on prejudices.
It is a country’s Government’s responsibility to provide equal opportunities to the citizens irrespective of narrow mined discriminatory policies. Section 4 is obviously biased and discriminatory only to topple the constitutional guarantee provided to the reservation categories. The act instead of having a broad minded approach to provide opportunity to the people of oppressed section had again implied on bias and discrimination even in the field of education.
