BENGALURU: Quashing the appointments of Prakash Pagoji as Deputy Registrar and Shivamurthy as section officer of Karnataka Sanskrit University, the High Court of Karnataka has directed the university to consider the applications of the two petitioners and others and fill the posts on the basis of merit.
Justice NS Sanjay Gowda passed the order recently on the petitions filed by Gangadharappa BO, research assistant, the University of Mysuru, and Shailashree R of Bengaluru, questioning the appointments of Pagoji and Shivamurthy.
The university should consider only those candidates (including the petitioners) who are eligible for the two posts, the court said.
In her petition, Shailashree stated that Shivamurthy is not eligible for the post as he is 42 and has crossed the age limit. However, Shivamurthy contended that he has worked in an aided institution and therefore, he should get the benefit of the enhanced age limit.The court, however, said that an employee of an aided institution cannot equate his employment to that of an employment under the government for claiming the benefit of the age limit extension. Therefore, the appointments cannot be sustained.
The court said it could not accept the argument of the university that it is entitled to consider even candidates from aided institutions. The statutes specifically provide for an enhanced age limit only to those who are under the direct employment of a university or a government or a local body. This benefit cannot be utilised by the applicants merely because their employer received grant-in-aid from the government.