80% OBC, 83% ST and 64% SC Professor Posts Vacant;
BM Kamble Demands Accountability

BM Kamble, National Vice President of the Social Democratic Party of India unequivocally condemns the Central Government’s failure to address the shocking backlog of reserved faculty posts in central universities, a blatant violation of social justice principles enshrined in the Constitution. Government data presented in the Rajya Sabha on July 24, 2025, reveals an alarming reality: 80% of Other Backward Classes (OBC) professor posts (339 out of 423) and 83% of Scheduled Tribes (ST) professor posts (120 out of 144) remain vacant. Scheduled Castes (SC) fare no better, with a 64% vacancy rate (197 out of 308 posts). In stark contrast, only 39% of general category professor posts are unfilled, exposing a systemic bias that undermines the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2006.

This is not an isolated failure. RTI data from 2024 shows 415 OBC, 234 SC, and 129 ST faculty posts vacant across 11 IITs. In 2018, no OBC faculty were appointed at professor or associate professor levels in 40 central universities. The government’s claim of “mission mode” recruitment is hollow when vacancies persist for over a decade. Allegations of institutional bias—such as deeming reserved category candidates “unsuitable”—and the use of contractual appointments to bypass constitutional mandates further erode trust. A 2025 parliamentary panel highlighted how such practices undermine safeguards for marginalized communities.

SDPI demands immediate accountability. The government must enforce transparent recruitment, establish UGC oversight, and penalize non-compliant universities. The 40% OBC, 31% SC, and 37% ST overall faculty vacancy rates deprive students of diverse academic role models and perpetuate exclusion. This is institutionalized discrimination, denying OBC, SC, and ST communities their rightful representation. SDPI calls for a caste census to expose and address these disparities. We stand with marginalized communities and will not rest until social justice is upheld in higher education. The government must act now to fill these posts and honor its constitutional obligations.