New Delhi: Delhi High Court has upheld the decision of a DU college to relieve an ad hoc assistant professor of his duties and said that the teacher could not provide specific material to prove that the college discriminated against him for his caste. The teacher had alleged that deliberate changes were made in the roster and subject-wise placement by the college to engineer his removal.
“The plea of caste bias also carries a serious allegation of bad faith…. In service matters, the standard approach is that the burden lies heavily on the person alleging bad faith, and the pleadings must disclose particulars sufficient to make out a prima facie case…. The petitioner’s pleadings remain broad and conclusionary, without the kind of specific material,” Justice Sanjeev Narula said in a recent order. The ad hoc assistant professor (Hindi), Narender, was disallowed from continuing in the job after a few years. “The very architecture of ad hoc appointments recognises that such engagements are made to meet short-term teaching requirements,” the court said. Narender alleged discrimination, claiming that two other ad hoc assistant professors of Hindi — one in the unreserved category and another OBC — were retained, while he, being an SC appointee, was replaced by Maharaja Agrasen College. “A reserved category candidate is not barred from competing for an unreserved post, but that is a different proposition from claiming that the roster must preserve a reserved slot regardless of reduction in workload-driven posts,” the court said.It agreed with advocate Amit Khemka, representing the college, that the commission for scheduled castes does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate service matters.
