'Prima Facie Qualified': Uttarakhand High Court Allows Visually Challenged Candidate To Provisionally Appear In Interview For Asst. Professor Post

The Uttarakhand High Court on Friday ordered the State of Uttarakhand and Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University to provisionally allow a visually challenged person to appear in the interview for the post of Assistant Professor (Botany), after his candidature was rejected by the authorities.

The petitioner, who is 40% visually challenged, holds a Ph.D. degree in the subject of Botany alongwith NET and JRF in Life Science. Pursuant to the advertisement notified by the University, he applied for the post of Assistant Professor as he had the minimum qualification to get appointment to the said post.

Subsequent to his online application, he was informed in the Samarth Portal (the portal to apply jobs) that his marks have been updated and according to which he falls under the consideration of appointment as he was found eligible on the basis of his marks.

But when the authorities released the screening results of the application, to the utter shock of the petitioner it was notified that there was ‘insufficient number of eligible candidates’. Being aggrieved by the aforesaid, he made a representation to the authorities concerned, which remained unanswered and the interview was scheduled to be held on June 10, 2023.

Finding no other respite, the petitioner was constrained to approach the High Court canvassing his grievances. After hearing the petitioner, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal ordered,

“Since the interviews are scheduled for tomorrow, we are inclined to permit the petitioner to participate in the same provisionally, subject to further orders in this writ petition.”

It asked the authorities to consider the candidature of the petitioner against both the reserved category as well as the general category and to submit the results of the interview to the Court in a sealed cover on the next date.

It also ordered the respondents to file their respective counter-affidavits within three weeks elucidating as to why the petitioner has not been called for the interview as prima facie he appears to be qualified not only against the reserved category post but also against the general category post.

Case Title: Dr. Harikesh v. State of Uttarakhand & Anr.

Case No.: WPSB No. 233 of 2023

Order Dated: June 9, 2023

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. Varun Katiyar, Advocate

Counsel for the Respondents: Mr. Amarendra Pratap Singh, Addl. Advocate General; Dr. Kartikey Hari Gupta & Mr. Rafat Munir Ali, Advocates

Click Here To Read/Download Order