The Union government is learnt to have rejected the IITs’ request for exemption from implementing reservations in senior faculty posts and permission to continue with their policy of de-reserving posts a year after they fall vacant for unavailability of suitable candidates.

The department of higher education (DHE) under the Union education ministry is said to have told the parliamentary committee on the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that it would not exempt the IITs from the quota law.

The committee, headed by BJP parliamentarian Kirit P. Solanki, had a meeting with DHE officials on August 25. Officials of the law ministry and the department of personnel and training were also present.

The committee discussed the recommendations of a panel headed by IIT Delhi director Ramgopal Rao that had sought exemption from reservation for the posts of associate professor and professor.

The committee also suggested continuation of the de-reservation of reserved posts after a year if they could not be filled for lack of suitable candidates from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes or economically weaker sections.

The IITs have been advertising reserved posts and de-reserving them a year later if suitable candidates cannot be found.