HC restrains UPSC from filling 5 posts of Principal in Delhi

The Delhi High Court today restrained Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) from filling five out of the 58 seats vacant for the posts of Principal in city government schools.
The recruitment exams for the 58 posts of Principal was held in 2012 and the recommendation regarding the vacancies was sent in 2010 through Delhi government's Directorate of Education (DoE) to UPSC.
In July 2013, five candidates- Mamta Yadav, Pramod Kumar Satyarthi, Satish Kumar, Arvind Kumar and Rakesh Kumar Sorot- among others were declared successful. But later the names of these five candidates did not figure in the interview list.
Challenging the decision, these candidates approached the Central Administrative Tribunal which had refused to interfere in the action taken by UPSC and Delhi government.

Thereafter, they moved Delhi High court and the bench of justices Kailash Gambhir and V K Shali issued a notice to UPSC and Delhi government's education department on the petition.
The bench, however, said the "interview of the remaining selected candidates (for 53 vacancies) should go on".

It directed UPSC to file an affidavit by July 10 on the matter and counter affidavit, if any, by petitioners -- Mamta, Pramod, Satish Kumar, Arvind and Rakesh.
"Respondents (UPSC and Delhi government) shall not fill five posts of the Principal, whose name appeared in the merit list. This order will not come in the way of recruitment of other selected candidates," the bench said.

The courts' order came on the petition filed by the five candidates after UPSC did not call them for the interview on the ground that they do not possess the required 10 years work experience after completing their post graduation.
The petitioners' counsel R K Saini told the court that "UPSC informed them that their names are not in the list as they do not possess the ten years experience of teaching in a high or higher secondary school or an intermediate college after acquiring master degree".
"All the petitioners who have been serving under respondents 2 and 3 (Delhi government and DoE) as PGT/TGT have fulfilled all the eligibilty conditions prescribed in the said advertisement as well as in the recruitment rules...,"he said.

Interview for the posts of Principal (34 for male candidates and 24 for female candidates) is pending since September 2013.