Rajya Sabha adjourned over faculty quota in universities

New Delhi: Amid ruckus created by opposition parties, including RJD, BSP, TMC, SP and Congress, over roster system for reservation in universities Rajya Sabha proceedings were disrupted for the fourth day in a row on Thursday.

Trouble began as soon as the Rajya Sabha sitting began at 11am. The House was adjourned by Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu for 10 minutes till 11.20pm to give time to both treasury and Opposition benches to decide on the issue. However, soon after the House reconvened, the chair was forced to adjourn the House till 2pm amid protest by opposition parties, mainly SP and BSP members, over the issue of faculty reservation in Universities even after the government assured them that it will file a review petition in the Supreme Court.

As soon as the House resumed proceedings at 2 pm, Mr Naidu asked members to begin the discussion on motion of thanks on the President’s address to Parliament. However, opposition members were on their feet and sought a discussion on the issue of roster system under Rule 267.  They demanded discussion on the issue under Rule 267 of the House.

However, when the Chairman did not heed to their demand saying the discussion on Motion of Thanks would go on, opposition members — RJD, SP, BSP, TMC and Congress — trooped into the well protesting over introduction of roster system in educational institutions, which they claim limits the scope of reservation for jobs.

Mr Naidu pointed out that the House is lagging behind and requested opposition members to let the House function. “Please allow the House to function. The entire country is watching your functioning in the House. You don’t want to discuss the President’s address,” he said and assured the members that the government has taken note of the issue raised by them. As members refused to relent, Mr Naidu adjourned the House for the day.

The roster system provides that number of vacancies are considered department or wing wise in a college or university and not total number of posts available for recruitment in any institution. This results in limited seats available for recruitment by each department or wing under reserved categories.

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 Naidu to adjourn the House till 2 PM. Earlier after laying of papers, Naidu said 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.