MDU-Rohtak panel resorted to favouritism: HC
Sunit Dhawan
Rohtak, April 25
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed that a selection committee constituted for the appointment of an assistant professor at the Department of Education in Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, had misused power and resorted to favouritism.
“There is a conscious awarding of high marks selectively and it substantiates in principle that there was favouritism which has been resorted to by the selection committee. Thus, the power has been misused by the selection authority for serving an unauthorised purpose,” maintained a judgment passed by a two-Judge bench comprising Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Vikas Suri.
The High Court has ordered the university to offer appointment to the appellant – Vanita Rose – within a period of four weeks from the receipt of the certified copy of the said order.
“A conscious effort was made to award high marks in the interview to the selected candidate who had scored poorly in the academic qualifications. Accordingly, the candidates who had got high marks in academic score were given low marks in the interview to ensure that they were kept out of the zone of consideration,” states the order.
A vacancy for the post of assistant professor in Education was advertised by the MDU administration in 2016.Vanita Rose got 44.50 marks in the academic record and topped the list of the applicants called for interview. However, she was given only six marks out of 25 for interview and presentation, putting her total score at 50.50. She was also not granted four marks for her gold medal in MPhil and could not get selected for the post.
Meanwhile, another candidate, Menka, who got 29.80 marks in academic record, was given 23.50 marks out of 25 for interview and presentation, taking her total score to 53.30. Menka was selected for the job. Vanita challenged the appointment before the High Court, following which a single Judge-bench quashed Menka’s appointment. However, the single-Judge-Bench did not consider the argument for granting four marks to Vanita for the gold medal in MPhil.
Vanita then filed an appeal, which has now been allowed by the High Court, while the appeals filed by the selected candidate as well as by the university have been dismissed.
