SC, ST, OBC faculty make up 13.1 pc at IIT-Kanpur, 21.9 pc at IIT-BHU: RTI

Varanasi/Kanpur: Members from the SC, ST and OBC communities account for 13.1 per cent of the working faculty at IIT-Kanpur and 21.9 per cent at IIT (BHU) Varanasi, according to the information provided by the two institutes under the RTI Act.

The three communities make up 76 of 581 working faculty members at IIT-Kanpur and 82 of 374 at IIT (BHU) Varanasi, the RTI replies showed.

When contacted by PTI on Thursday, IIT Kanpur officials said the information was "imprecise", while IIT BHU confirmed the data. However, both premier institutes said they would be able to share a detailed response later.


At IIT-Kanpur, the category-wise data shows that 25 faculty members are from the Scheduled Caste (SC), five from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) and 46 from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.

At the professor level, the representation is particularly low. Of the institute's 257 professors, none are from the SC or ST communities, and only three are from the OBC category. The remaining 254 are from the unreserved category.

Among 128 associate professors, there are eight SC, one ST and seven OBC faculty members. Of the 193 assistant professors, 17 are SC, four ST and 36 OBC.

At IIT-BHU, 30 faculty members are from the SC, five from the ST and 47 from the OBC category, out of 374 filled positions across the three academic ranks.

Of the 129 professors at IIT-BHU, 11 are SC, one ST and two OBC, while 113 are from the unreserved category. Two professors are also listed under the Persons with Disabilities category.

Among 88 associate professors, seven are OBC and four are SC, with no ST faculty member. Of the 157 assistant professors, 15 are SC, four ST and 38 OBC.

The data shows that representation of SC, ST and OBC faculty is considerably higher at the assistant professor level than at the professor level, particularly at IIT-Kanpur.

IIT-Kanpur has 957 sanctioned faculty positions, of which 376 are vacant, while IIT-BHU has 608 sanctioned positions and 234 vacancies. IIT-BHU said it follows a "flexi cadre system" for faculty positions and therefore category-wise sanctioned and vacant positions could not be calculated.

The information was provided in response to two separate RTI applications filed in January by Gowd Kiran Kumar, a Hyderabad resident.

IIT-Kanpur issued its response on February 6, while IIT-BHU responded on February 24.

When contacted, IIT Kanpur Director Manindra Agrawal suggested the data was inaccurately contextualised.

"The information is imprecise and we will soon come out with a detailed response and facts and share it with the media," he told PTI.

Meanwhile, IIT BHU Public Relations Officer Utkarsh Shrivastava told PTI that the information was correct but added that he would be able to share any further information "tomorrow".