Woman aspirant’s plea for museum director’s post quashed

The board not only accepted the recommendation of the committee, but also directed that the post be re-advertised, the bench noted.

HYDERABAD: Refusing to consider the petitioner’s plea to declare the Revised Recruitment Rules 2014 as unconstitutional, a division bench of Telangana High Court has recently dismissed the petition filed by a woman aspirant for the post of director of Salar Jung museum. The bench made it clear that the constitutional validity of a provision of law can be challenged on three grounds, namely (i) lack of competency; (ii) violation of fundamental rights; or (iii) manifest arbitrariness of the law.

“Salar Jung Museum is world famous for its collection of painting and scriptures, porcelains and clocks, of manuscripts and curios. Needless to say, painting and scriptures periodically require chemical restorations. Therefore, if the Rules, 2014 make a person eligible, who has a degree in chemistry, it is not unreasonable. Moreover, the broad-basing of eligibility requirement cannot be held to be unreasonable by this Court. Therefore, the Rules, 2014 cannot be declared to be unconstitutional”, the bench observed.        

The bench was dismissing a petition filed by Dr J Kedareswari, presently working as a Keeper (education, publications, public relations) in the museum, seeking direction to the authorities concerned to have age relaxation under the amended rules and to consider her in the selection process for the said post.

Petitioner’s counsel J Sudheer contended that the eligibility and qualification requirements have been whittled down in the Rules 2014, hence the Recruitment Rules 2014 should be declared as unconstitutional. After hearing both sides, the bench found that the selection committee did not find any of the candidates suitable for the post. The board not only accepted the recommendation of the committee, but also directed that the post be re-advertised, the bench noted.

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