The plea was filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay who contended that the appointment process for the post was arbitrary since non-Delhi Metro applicants had a cut-off age of 58 even as it was 60 years for employees.
The petition stated that the notification calling for applications for the post was “manifestly arbitrary, irrational, unfair and contrary to the due procedure of Law, but also brazenly violates Articles 14, 16, 21 of the Constitution, hence, void and inoperative.“
The plea pointed out that only Delhi Metro employees, and not those of other cities having metro transport, are consider internal candidates in the notification even as all of these operate in a similar joint-venture structure with the Union Urban Development Ministry.
Further, the plea said that the State government had extended the tenure of the incumbent Managing Director four times “under the garb of non-availability of suitable candidate but suddenly reduced the maximum age for applicants from other Metro … where candidates with desired skills are working at senior positions and could be potential applicants.“
The plea alleged that the notification seems to have been issued to appoint a particular person to the post, since earlier advertisements for posts of Directors of Finance and Operations had no such differential age cut-offs.
Thus, apart from quashing of the notification, the plea prayed for the upper-age limit to be uniform and non-arbitrary given the specialised nature of the post.
Source: Barandbench
