IIT Faculty Reservation: High Applicant Volumes Fail to Bridge the Representation Gap

IIT Faculty Reservation: High Applicant Volumes Fail to Bridge the Representation Gap

General Studies Paper III: Social Challenges, Government Policies

Why in News?

Recently, the Right to Information (RTI) data obtained by an alumnus of IIT Bombay Pranav Jeevan P, revealed that Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) consistently fall short of mandatory faculty reservation quotas, despite substantial applications from marginalised communities.

IIT Faculty Recruitment Data and Representation Disparities

• Recent institutional disclosures reveal a compounding teaching crisis across the 23 premier engineering institutes.
  • As of 2026, compiled data from the IIT Council indicates that out of 12,498 sanctioned posts nationwide, 4,804 faculty positions remain vacant.
  • This indicates a steep 38.4% vacancy rate. Nearly 60% of the vacant positions across nine reporting institutes belong to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Class (OBC) categories.
  • Across tracked locations, these marginalized demographics hold only about 16% to 20% of active teaching roles.
• Right to Information (RTI Act) data reveals a heavy structural asymmetry, showing that over 80% to 83.7% of all faculty positions are dominated by the General Category.
  • Across seven IITs that provided information, these communities account for only approximately 20% of the faculty workforce.
  • This drastically exceeds the 50.5% open quota ceiling, creating an extreme representation gap.
• A total of 1,495 SC/ST/OBC faculty positions remain vacant across seven IITs. These vacancies represent approximately 71.6% of the 2,087 category-wise reserved positions.
  • IIT Kharagpur reported 710 vacancies, comprising 378 OBC, 216 SC and 116 ST positions. Only 68 positions were occupied against 778 calculated reserved posts. This represents a vacancy rate exceeding 90%.
    • IIT Kharagpur received 2,798 SC/ST/OBC applications since 2025, while IIT Jodhpur received 3,043 applications. 
    • Yet IIT Jodhpur reported only 74 filled positions and 127 vacancies. 
• Deeper metrics from representative campuses show that reserved category posts make up roughly 60% of all reported faculty vacancies.
  • The Scheduled Tribe (ST) category faces the worst systemic exclusion, accounting for merely 1.1% of active faculty nationwide.
• IIT administrations historically attribute the shortfall to a lack of qualified applicants who meet their rigorous criteria.
  • Audited data confirms that 48% to 50% of all faculty applications received since 2025 originate from SC, ST, and OBC candidates.
• At IIT Bombay, out of 412 top-tier Professors, only five are SC, six are OBC, and zero are ST.
  • The remaining marginalized faculty are disproportionately restricted to entry-level Assistant Professor posts. 
  • Out of 45 departments at IIT Kharagpur, 43 lack any ST faculty and 32 lack any SC faculty entirely.

Provisions Governing Reservation in Higher Education

• Constitutional Framework
  • Article 14: Guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of laws. It provides the constitutional foundation for addressing arbitrary discrimination and unequal institutional opportunities.
  • Article 15(4): Enables the State to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes and SC/ST communities.
  • Article 15(5): Allows special provisions for admissions of socially and educationally backward classes and SC/ST communities in educational institutions, including private aided and unaided institutions, subject to the constitutional exception for minority educational institutions under Article 30(1).
  • Article 16(4) : Enables reservation in appointments and posts for backward classes inadequately represented in State services, relevant to faculty recruitment in public IITs.
  • Article 16(4A) concerns reservation in promotions for SC/ST employees, while Article 16(4B) allows backlog vacancies to be treated separately for calculating the 50% ceiling.
  • Article 16(6): Enables up to 10% reservation in public employment for economically weaker sections (EWS), subject to constitutional conditions.
  • Article 46 : Directs the State to promote the educational and economic interests of weaker sections, particularly SCs and STs, and protect them from social injustice.
• Central Educational Institutions Reservation Act, 2019: The act provides for reservation in direct recruitment of teachers in covered central educational institutions.
  • It came into force retrospectively from 7 March 2019.
  • The applicable central reservation framework provides 15% for SCs, 7.5% for STs, 27% for OBCs and 10% for EWS, subject to the relevant statutory coverage and conditions. 
  • It treats the University or College as a single unit for the reservation roster (replacing the previous department-wise or 13-point roster system).
  • It excludes specified institutions of excellence, research institutions and institutions of national and strategic importance listed in the Act’s Schedule, besides minority educational institutions.
• IITs Structure: IITs apply these vertical quotas for student admissions across all undergraduate and postgraduate courses. For faculty recruitment, the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Act, 2019 governs the process.
  • On 18 November 2019, the Department of Higher Education asked IITs to comply with the 2019 Act. The government subsequently constituted a committee to examine implementation.
  • IIT Directors’ Committee (2020), an eight-member committee chaired by V. Ramgopal Rao, then Director of IIT Delhi, examined reservation implementation in IIT admissions and faculty recruitment. It submitted its report on 17 June 2020.
  • IITs should maintain transparent category-wise rosters, sanctioned strength, occupied posts and backlog vacancies to establish actual compliance.
    • The 2019 Act provides that reserved teacher vacancies should not be de-reserved under its applicable framework.

Structural Barriers Behind Underrepresentation in IIT Faculty

• IIT faculty recruitment generally demands strong academic credentials, doctoral qualifications, specialised research and postdoctoral experience.
  • Unequal access to quality schooling, and prestigious academic networks can disadvantage marginalised candidates.
• Institutions frequently invoke a subjective definition of academic excellence to bypass standard hiring.
  • The “Not Found Suitable” (NFS) clause is heavily utilized during interviews, causing panels to disqualify candidates under the pretext of maintaining standard quality, despite applicants holding identical doctoral qualifications..
• Marginalized faculty members are largely confined to entry-level Assistant Professor positions. There is an almost absolute absence of SC/ST/OBC representation in high-level institutional bodies, such as the Board of Governors, and selection panels, preventing structural advocacy.
• Several institutes employ opaque, non-roster “flexi-cadre” recruitment models that bypass transparent category-wise allocations.
• Inadequate category-wise disclosures, inconsistent recruitment records, limited scrutiny of selection outcomes and weak grievance mechanisms make it difficult to identify discrimination or enforce corrective action.

Impact of Underrepresentation in IIT Faculty

• Underrepresentation restricts equitable access to prestigious academic careers and undermines the constitutional objective of ensuring substantive equality for historically disadvantaged communities.
• Persistent reservation vacancies despite substantial applications raise questions about fairness, transparency and accountability in publicly funded institutions. 
• High rates of distress and student suicides in IITs (such as multiple recorded cases at IIT Kharagpur) are frequently linked by activists and reports to institutional alienation, caste insensitivity, and an acute shortage of mental health professionals relative to student populations.
• IITs contribute to innovation, technological research, entrepreneurship and skilled human-resource development.
  • Excluding capable researchers from disadvantaged communities can unnecessarily narrow India’s scientific talent pool and weaken inclusive growth.
• Most academic departments lack marginalized faculty members, leaving Dalit, Adivasi, and OBC students with few mentors or advocates to approach when facing academic stress or discrimination. SC/ST cells in several institutes remain underfunded or inactive.

Government Measures, Judicial Perspectives and Recommendations

• Measures:
  • In September 2022, the Ministry of Education directed Central Higher Educational Institutions to undertake mission-mode recruitment.
    • IITs filled over 3,500 faculty vacancies between September 2022 and May 2026.
  • The government has instructed centrally funded institutions to undertake special recruitment drives for backlog vacancies involving SC, ST and OBC candidates.
• Judicial Perspectives:
  • In the landmark case of Dr. Sachchida Nand Pandey vs. Union of India (December 2022), the Supreme Court issued absolute mandates directing the Centre and all 23 IITs to strictly apply the 2019 Act provisions for both research admissions and faculty hiring.
  • The Supreme Court constituted a National Task Force (NTF) on 24 March 2025 to examine student suicides, mental health, institutional discrimination and inclusiveness in higher education.
    • It has also examined caste discrimination and challenges faced by marginalised communities.
  • The Supreme Court directed all public and private higher educational institutions (HEIs) to fill all vacant teaching and non-teaching faculty positions within four months, prioritizing posts reserved for marginalized and underrepresented communities.
• Recommendations:
  • Introduce standardised evaluation criteria, recorded interview scores, independent observers and transparent selection procedures.
  • Publish annual institution-wise, department-wise and category-wise faculty representation reports.
  • Strengthen Equal Opportunity Cells, SC/ST Cells, grievance committees and independent reservation-compliance audits.
  • Expand doctoral fellowships, postdoctoral opportunities, research grants and mentorship programmes for underrepresented communities.
  • Link institutional reviews with measurable indicators of recruitment transparency, reservation compliance and diversity.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

1. What are the faculty reservation norms for SC, ST and OBC categories in IITs?

Under the 2019 Act, faculty reservations provide 15% for SCs, 7.5% for STs and 27% for OBCs, subject to statutory applicability.

2. How many reserved faculty positions remain vacant across the IITs?

RTI data reveals 1,495 reserved SC, ST and OBC faculty vacancies across seven IITs; this is not an all-IIT national total.

3. Why are IITs struggling to fill reserved-category faculty positions despite receiving applications?

Structural barriers, subjective selection, narrow recruitment pipelines, historical exclusion and institutional shortcomings may contribute; application numbers alone cannot establish candidate eligibility.

4. What does the RTI data reveal about faculty recruitment in IITs?

Seven IITs reported substantial representation gaps; IIT Kharagpur had 710 vacancies despite receiving 2,798 reserved-category applications.

5. What steps can IITs take to improve the representation of reserved communities?

Implement time-bound recruitment, transparent selection, backlog clearance, category-wise reporting, independent audits, targeted fellowships and stronger institutional accountability.

Disclaimer: Information in this article is based on official announcements and public records. Details may evolve over time.

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