Reservation gets the boot at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology
KOZHIKODE: Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram, has allegedly been violating reservation norms of the government in the recruitment for top posts in the institution for the past several years.
Though there is a government directive, the institution is not following it in the recruitment for Group A posts (Scientist /Engineers /Academic staff) and, instead, is filling them with candidates from the general category in violation of the directives of the Supreme Court, SC/ST and OBC Commissions.
The recruitment notifications over the years confirm the violations and the former SCTIMST Director in-charge Dr Jaganmohan A. Tharakan (who was in the post when DC contacted him and till early July) has also admitted the fact.
A letter undersigned by the Administration Officer (which DC has a copy of) to an advocate who sought the clarification in the issue also points out that the institution was following the norms in Group B and Group C posts but was silent on what was being done on Group A posts. The Administrative Officer refused to give a clarification on Group A posts when contacted and also an email to the Director was not replied to.
Dr Tharakan said he had sought a clarification from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) whether it came under those institutions which could go do away with reservation norms. However, the DST has not been clarified on the issue.
“For specialised posts with a limited number of vacancies, we do not generally apply reservation rules,” he said. However he did not clarify when asked how a government institution could forgo reservation rules without any consent from the government.
In the recent advertisement for recruitment of Professors/Assistant Professors (Advt. No. P&A.II/56/SSSC/SCTIMST/2014) also, the institution did not mention any reservation posts of SC/ST candidates, except in the case of application fee concession.
Available data with this correspondent from 2007 onwards confirms that the institution is violating the government directives in top posts in this regard. However institutions like AIIMS, IISER, NITs, IITs etc are following government rules on reservation.
A top source from the Institution said the SCTIMST had not been exempted by the GOI from following reservation norms.
“For the exemption, the Institution should receive an order by the Minister of the concerned department and also the government should issue the notification. As far as SCTIMST is concerned, although a letter seeking clarification was sent, the DST has not yet replied,” the source said.
