Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court on Friday issued notice to Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) and central govt after a candidate for the post of junior superintendent questioned the premier institute conducting interviews for a post, which is prohibited by Centre.The petition was filed by Neeraj Meena, who submitted that he scored 72.5 marks out of 100 in a written test, and the person who was selected for the post, Vijay Meena, scored only 25 marks. This was because the institute held interviews under the guise of personal appearance and gave him only 25 marks out of 100, but the candidate selected was awarded 55 marks. Granting more marks in the interview to Vijay ousted the petitioner from the zone of consideration.The petitioner’s advocate Chirag Prajapati submitted that Centre has prohibited conducting interviews for junior-level posts like the one in question since 2015. In response to RTI queries, the petitioner came to know that IIT-Gn had requested Centre to exempt it from this rule, but the documents did not reveal that the institute was granted an exemption.The petitioner claimed that Vijay had been working with IIT-Gn on the same post since 2018. He urged HC to quash the interview process and direct the institute to make the final selection only on the basis of marks obtained in the written test, and contended, “The action of the respondents is contrary to the settled principles governing public employment, which require that recruitment to public posts must be transparent, merit-based, objective and free from favouritism or bias.”After preliminary hearing, Justice Nikhil Kariel issued notice to the institute, Centre and the selected candidate seeking their responses by Oct 8. HC also clarified that the selected candidate’s appointment would be subject to outcome of the petition.
