In a significant move to bring clarity, consistency, and transparency to faculty recruitment, the Haryana Government last week issued detailed clarifications and amendments to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) governing reservation of posts and maintenance of reservation rosters in government-aided private colleges across the state.
The new instructions, released by the Higher Education Department on January 22, seek to address long-standing ambiguities in interpreting reservation rules—particularly in assessing backlog vacancies and maintaining roster registers.
Officials said the decision follows repeated observations that colleges were interpreting earlier instructions differently, leading to inconsistencies in reservation compliance. To resolve this, the government has now laid down a uniform mechanism that all government-aided private colleges in Haryana must follow while filling teaching posts through direct recruitment.
“With these clarifications issued on January 22, the Haryana Government aims to eliminate ambiguity, ensure compliance with constitutional reservation norms, and promote fairness in faculty recruitment. The department has directed all Government Aided Private Colleges to prepare their roster registers strictly as per the revised SOPs and ensure they are duly verified,” said an official.
“The state government believe the the move will not only streamline recruitment but also reduce disputes, audits, and legal challenges related to reservation policies – bringing much-needed order to a process that directly impacts both institutions and aspirants across the state.”
One college system, one roster
One of the most consequential clarifications is that all government-aided private colleges will be treated as one single unit for the purpose of reservation in direct recruitment of teaching cadres. This replaces the earlier practice of calculating reservations subject-wise.
“The colleges must now strictly follow the state’s 100-point reservation roster, as prescribed under existing government policy”, the instructions issued mention.
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“Under the revised SOPs, colleges are required to prepare a consolidated roster register with effect from August 31, 2023, combining all subject-wise rosters into a single register. Faculty members who were in position as of that date – and those who joined thereafter through direct recruitment—must be entered into the roster strictly in the order of their date of joining. Once a full cycle of 100 points is completed, the roster will restart from Point 1 for the next cycle,” said the official.
“Importantly, only those faculty members who actually joined duty after appointment will be entered in the roster. Any backlog in reserved posts that arose prior to August 31, 2023, and still exists must also be accounted for and cannot be ignored,” added the official.
Mandatory verification before recruitment
To prevent deviations, the government has made verification of the reservation roster compulsory before advertising or filling any new teaching posts. “Colleges must get their roster registers verified by the SEWA Department or officers nominated by it. Recruitment without such verification would be treated as a violation of the prescribed procedure”, the instructions mention.
The SOPs also clarify that “if a college chooses not to fill certain sanctioned posts at a particular time, only those posts that are actually being filled will be considered for determining roster points. Vacancies that are intentionally left unfilled will not influence the reservation calculation for that recruitment cycle”.
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Vacancy date determines the roster point
Another major clarification relates to how roster points are assigned. “The reservation category for any post will now be determined strictly in chronological order of vacancy creation – whether due to superannuation, resignation, termination, removal, or sanction of new posts. If multiple vacancies arise on the same date, they must be arranged alphabetically by subject name in English dictionary order,” the official explained.
“Where multiple posts exist within the same subject, only one post per subject will be considered in each alphabetical round before moving to the next round. According to officials, this system is designed to ensure broader representation of reserved categories across subjects, rather than clustering reservations within a single discipline,” the official added.
Backlog vacancies take priority
The SOPs place strong emphasis on clearing backlog vacancies. If reserved posts remain unfilled from earlier recruitment cycles, they must be filled first, strictly in the order in which the backlog arose. In cases where backlog exists across multiple reserved categories, the oldest backlog category will get priority.
The government has also illustrated this principle with a detailed example, showing how backlog categories and vacancy dates together determine both the reservation category and the subject sequence for recruitment. “The guiding principle is that backlog clearance cannot be bypassed under any circumstances.”
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Accountability and cooling-off period
“Colleges that receive permission to recruit but later decide not to fill certain posts must formally inform the government with reasons. Such posts can only be advertised again after obtaining fresh government approval, and only after a minimum gap of one year from the previous advertisement,” the instructions add.
