SC bar on hiring quotas for super-speciality faculty irks MPs

Members of Parliament Monday expressed concern over a Supreme Court order barring quotas in recruitment of faculty for super-speciality courses in engineeering and medical colleges, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Raising the issue during the zero hour in the Lok Sabha, JD-U MP Sharad Yadav said: "This is an attack on the reservation policy of the state."

Yadav said that the government should try to find a way out in this matter. "This is a serious issue. Why have we not taken any note of this issue?" he asked.

Yadav asked speaker Meira Kumar to call for a detailed debate on the matter.

Expressing similar concern, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said: "The Supreme Court pronouncements can lead to unrest in the country. Parliament has to be above the judiciary. The constitution has empowered us," he said.

Bahujan Samaj Party MP Dara Singh Chauhan and the Congress' P.L. Punia echoed the same views.

A five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court headed by then chief justice Altmas Kabir ruled July 18 that reservation will not be applicable to technical posts, including super specialities in engineering, medicine and other scientific and technical posts in institutions like AIIMS.

The order would mean that specialty and super-specialty branches, such as cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and others, will not be open for recruitment through reservation for SC/ST and OBC category candidates and all such appointments made till date will have to be repudiated.