‘Prima Facie Qualified’: Uttarakhand HC Grants Provisional Interview Appearance to Visually Challenged Candidate

The Uttarakhand High Court recently directed the State Government and Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University to provisionally allow a visually challenged individual to appear in the interview for the position of Assistant Professor (Botany) after his candidacy was initially rejected by the authorities.

Dr. Harikesh, the petitioner, is visually challenged to the extent of 40% and holds a Ph.D. degree in Botany, along with NET and JRF in Life Science. He applied for the Assistant Professor position in response to the university’s advertisement, as he possessed the minimum qualifications required for the appointment.

After submitting his application online, he received a notification on the Samarth Portal (the job application portal) stating that his marks had been updated and that he was considered eligible for the appointment based on his marks.

However, when the authorities released the screening results, the petitioner was shocked to find that there were an “insufficient number of eligible candidates.” He expressed his grievances to the concerned authorities through a representation, but received no response. The interview was scheduled to take place on June 10, 2023.

Left with no other recourse, the petitioner approached the High Court to address his concerns. After hearing the petitioner, a division bench comprising 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.”

The bench directed the authorities to consider the petitioner’s candidature for both the reserved category and the general category and to submit the interview results to the court in a sealed cover on the next date.

Furthermore, the respondents were directed to file their respective counter-affidavits within three weeks, explaining why the petitioner was not called for the interview. The court noted that prima facie, the petitioner appeared to be qualified not only for the reserved category position but also for the general category position too.