The Delhi High Court put out a single judge’s order which slowed the process of appointment Hindu College’s Principal.A bench comprising of Justices S Muralidhar and IS Mehta stated that they viewed the conclusion drawn by the single judge as mala fide, either in law or in fact.
The division bench’s judgment came after Hindu College filed a plea challenging the previous court order dated 27th November 2018 which asked the screening committee to start the process again for appointment of the college Principal.
The single judge gave his order on the request of professor Ratan Lal whose candidature was discarded on the grounds of ineligibility to become the college Principal.He also filed an RTI to check whether the appointment procedure was rebuffed by the authorities or not.
“The single judge erred in holding that the person so nominated has to belong to the very category to which the candidate belongs. For instance, if the applicant is a person with disability of a particular kind, like for example, hearing impairment, it is not necessary that the said academician has to himself or herself be hearing impaired. Such an interpretation would make the provision unworkable,” the bench said.
The court said it suits well that the academician nominated in the selection committee must belong to any one of the prescribed categories. (SC/ST/OBC/Minority/Women/Persons with Disability).
“In the instant case, the above requirement stood satisfied. In other words, there was no error committed in the constitution of the screening committee. The court is therefore unable to agree with the single judge even on this score,” the bench further added..
The Professor also alleged alleged that the selection committee awarded his Academic Performance Indicators with malice.
The court, however said that he has failed to provide any factual or legal basis for such a claim. The court further added that its proven that the procedure was followed correctly and isn’t illegal which makes it worthless to repeat the process again.
