Srinagar, Aug 31: The High Court Tuesday dismissed a plea challenging selection process pertaining to Principal, SKIMS Medical College, Bemina here.
Dismissing the petition, a bench of Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey held that at this stage none of the fundamental, legal or constitutional rights of the petitioners was violated by any action or inaction of the authorities which would have formed a ground for its indulgence in the instant case.
In their petition Prof Abdul Wahid Khan and another had contended that they applied for the post of Principal, SKIMS Medical College, Bemina in terms of an advertisement notice dated 7 January 2021.
The selection process for the post, they said, was being carried in violation of the recruitment rules governing the subject as well as against the mandate of clauses (b) and (c) prescribed in the advertisement notice.
They said that the selection committee had not assessed the credentials of all the competing candidates on the basis of criteria and that without such assessment all the nine competing candidates were called for interview instead of restricting the number of candidates to the ratio of 1:5.
The petitioners contended that the selection committee was supposed to prepare the panel of three candidates on the basis of merit to be assessed by it and, thereafter, place it before the Chairman of the Governing Body of SKIMS in the order of merit for making selection against the post of the principal.
After hearing the petitioners through their counsel and SKIMS through AAG Shah Aamir, the court underscored that at this stage none of the fundamental, legal or constitutional rights of the petitioners was violated.
The court said the government was on record to make it clear that due adherence was made to the mandate of the recruitment rules in the entire process of selection which are the primary and basic source for making selection against the post of the Principal of the SKIMS Medical College Bemina.
Besides, the Court said, the relevant records produced before it also substantiated that the authorities were strictly following the mandate of the rules governing the field while taking the process of selection to its logical conclusion.
“Given this position, there is hardly any scope left for the court to go deep into the matter while exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution” Court said.
The Court held that without making any further observations or recording any finding at this stage which may otherwise prejudice the cause of either of the parties on culmination of the process of selection, it was unable to accept the contentions of the petitioners regarding the violation of the mandate of the relevant recruitment rules.