Rajya Sabha adjourned over issue of faculty reservation in Universities

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2 PM on Thursday as Opposition parties especially SP and BSP protested over the issue of faculty reservation in Universities even as the government assured them that it will file a review petition in the Supreme Court.

Members of SP, BSP, RJD and CPI, who had given notices to discuss the issue, were not satisfied with the government's reply that it will file a review petition in the apex court.

Speaking on the issue in the morning session, the members demanded that a new bill be introduced to protect the interest of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBC.

While replying on the issue in the Upper House, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "We are fully committed towards reservation. We will ensure they are not affected."

The Minister said the government will soon file a review petition in the apex court on this issue and expressed confidence of getting a favourable judgement.

However, Opposition members were not satisfied with the minister's reply and were on their feet protesting, forcing Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the House till 2 PM.

Javadekar had earlier said that the government will file a review petition in the Supreme Court after its Special Leave Petition on faculty reservation mechanism for universities was rejected by the apex court.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) had announced in March last year that an individual department should be considered as the base unit to calculate the number of teaching posts to be reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates following an order by the Allahabad High Court in April in 2017.

Earlier after laying of papers, Naidu said that since only four days are left in the Budget session, the House should decide when to have a discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address.

He adjourned the House for 10 minutes till 11:20 PM to give time to both treasury and Opposition benches to decide on the issue.

When the House resumed, Naidu allowed members who had given notice on the issue of reservation to raise their concern.

-PTI