Ministries told to fill up SC, ST, OBC vacancies through Special Recruitment Drive, says DoPT minister

The Department of Personnel and Training has (DoPT) issued instructions to all ministries and departments to constitute an in-house committee to identify backlog reserved vacancies, study of the root cause of backlog reserved vacancies, initiate measures to remove such factors and fill up such vacancies through Special Recruitment Drive.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that instructions provide for appointment of Liaison Officers in each ministry and department to ensure effective implementation of the reservation policy for Scheduled Castes (SCs)/Scheduled Tribes (STs) and for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Instructions also provide to set up a Special Reservation Cell within the ministry/department to assist the Liaison Officer in discharging his duties effectively. However, the DoPT collects data from the ministries/departments on representation and appointment of SCs, STs and OBCs in the posts and services of the Central Government.

There is reservation of 15% for the members of the SC, 7.5% for members of ST and 27% for the members of OBC in the posts and services of the Central Government. As per data received from 78 ministries/departments including their attached/subordinate offices, the representation of SCs, STs and OBCs in the posts and services of the Central Government as on January 1, 2016 was 17.49%, 8.47% and 21.57%, respectively.

Representation of OBCs in the Central Government services is less as compared to the percentage of reservation for them because reservation of OBCs started in September, 1993. Representation of OBCs as on January 1, 2012 was 16.55% which has now increased to 21.57% on January 1, 2016 it showed an increasing trend in the representation of OBCs.

Ten ministries/departments having more than 90% of the employees in Central Government including their Public Sector Banks/Financial Institutions, Central Public Sector Undertakings etc., reported that out of 92,589 backlog vacancies for SCs, STs and OBCs, 63,876 vacancies were filled up during the period from 01.04.2012 to 31.12.2016 and 28,713 backlog vacancies of SCs, STs and OBCs remained unfilled as on 01.01.2017.