The Hindu : New Delhi News : College caught on wrong foot over recruitment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

College caught on wrong foot over recruitment

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 19. Nearly four months after it had assured the Delhi High Court and the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities that it would abide by the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities) Act, 1995, by reserving 3 per cent vacancies for disabled teachers, Maharaja Agrasen College of Delhi University has once again been caught on the wrong foot.

A contempt petition has now been filed in the High Court against Delhi University for "intentionally giving one reservation for the physically handicapped and keeping one for the future, debarring the petitioner to apply for the post in Political Science''. The petition has been filed by Bipin Kumar Tiwary who had moved the court two years ago with similar charges against the College. The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities has also asked the College to respond to it before completing its recruitment process.

In a letter dated June 28, the Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Office of Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, T. D. Dhariyal, has pointed out that "the basis and procedure for calculating two vacancies earlier and now only one vacancy in the Department of Computer Science needs clarification'' and has asked the College to submit its comments on the questions raised before concluding its recruitment exercise.

The College had issued an advertisement for the posts of lecturers in the departments of English, Political Science, Commerce and Computer Science. In his letter, Mr.Dhariyal has further added that the College is yet to clarify if it made any appointments in the department of Political Science, Commerce and Electronics from the list of disabled applicants it had mentioned about in its counter affidavit.

A case had been filed by Mr. Tiwary two years ago challenging an advertisement issued by the College in April and May 2002 on the ground that it did not mention the specific reservation of 3 per cent quota for physically handicapped persons. With the High Court refusing to grant ex-parte stay of the selection procedure, the college made appointments in all disciplines except Department of Political Science, Department of Commerce, Department of Electronics, Department of Computer Science and Director, Physical Education.

The College had, in its counter affidavit, mentioned that since the teachers' strength in the college was 60, the 3 per cent reservation would amount to two physically handicapped candidates and that it would be appointing two persons from the list of applications received by it.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi