New Delhi:A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been moved in Delhi High Court on Wednesday challenging the Government of National Capital Territory Delhi's notification regarding the post of Managing Director Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) dated February 10, 2022.
The plea seeks direction to declare that the upper age limit for the post of Managing Director-DMRC, which is not only extremely specialized and requires the most competent and experienced person but also an unreserved and sole post; cannot be arbitrary, irrational and discriminatory.
It also seeks to declare upper age limit for the post of Managing Director shall be uniform (60 years) and candidates who were eligible on the date of vacancy i.e. October 1, 2021, shall be eligible to apply for the post.
The petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, practising lawyer and BJP leader stated that, as per the advertisement, the tenure of the post of five years and the date of superannuation of 65 years is uniform for both internal candidates as well as external candidates and there is no provision for extensions of tenure on a later date.
The plea further stated that the state government extended the tenure of the present Managing Director four times under the garb of non-availability of a suitable candidate but suddenly reduced the maximum age for applicants from other Metros such as Lucknow Metro, Chennai Metro, etc where candidates with desired skills are working at senior positions and could be potential applicants. "Hence, this notification is manifestly arbitrary, irrational, unfair and brazenly violates Articles 14, 16, 21," the plea said.