New Delhi
The standing committee report on the welfare of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) tabled in Lok Sabha has said that despite having proper eligibility and competence, experienced SC/STs aspirants “are not allowed to be inducted” as faculty members in AIIMS even at an initial stage.
It said such a situation exists when out of a total of 1111 faculty positions, there are vacancies for 275 posts of Assistant Professors and 92 posts of Professor. The Committee recommended the filling up of the vacancies within the next three months.
“The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare must submit an action plan within three months from the date of presentation of the Report to both the Houses of Parliament. The Committee also have a firm view that in future too after filling up all the existing vacant positions, no faculty seat reserved for SC/ST shall be kept vacant for more than six months under any circumstances,” it said.
“The Committee observes that inspite of having proper eligibility, competence, fully experienced SCs/STs aspirants are not allowed to be inducted as faculty members even at an initial stage,” it said.
The Committee said it is not inclined to accept the frequently stereotype reply of the government that “no sufficient number of suitable candidates could be found”.
“This is in fact not a correct picture of assessment of the SC/ST candidates who are equally bright and deserving. But they are deliberately declared as ‘not suitable’ because of wrong biased assessment by the Selection Committee just to deprive SC/ST candidates of their legitimate rights to be part of the faculty,” the Committee said.
The Committee also pointed out that there are no SC and ST members in the General Body of the AIIMS, which deprives them of their legitimate rights to be part of the decision-making process and policy matters and also to protect the interests of SCs and STs in service matters.
The Committee further said that the reservation is not extended/applied in super-specialty courses due to which SC/ST members are not able to enter the super-specialty courses. It recommended sending SC and ST doctors and students abroad for specialized training so that their adequate representation may be seen visibly in all super-specialty fields.
The committee also noted that the overall percentage of admission of SCs and STs in MBBS and other undergraduate courses and also post-graduate courses in various AIIMS are far below the required level of 15 percent for SC and 7.5 per cent for ST.
