CUTTACK: Observing that there was an “aberration” in the process of selection for recruitment to the post of assistant professors in Psychology in different State universities, the Orissa High Court has asked the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) to appoint a fresh selection committee for the purpose.
The ruling came while giving judgment on a writ petition challenging the entire process of selection for the recruitment in different State universities under the administrative control of the Higher Education department.
Some applicants who did not make it to the final selection list filed the petition. They alleged that irregularity was committed by appointing two experts on the interview Board who were the PhD guide of some candidates who participated in the interview.
The single judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi said, “What is objectionable in such a case is not that the decision is actually tainted with bias but that the circumstances are such as to create a reasonable apprehension in the mind of others that there is a likelihood of bias affecting the decision”.
‘Consequently, this court finds merit in the plea of the petitioner that there were reasonable grounds for an apprehension that the selection of candidates was vitiated by bias,’ he observed in his July 11 order.
Justice Panigrahi, however, stated that the court has always reposed utmost faith in the recruitment process of the OPSC, “but the present case depicts an aberration.”