A division bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain said that different yardsticks for different corporations was discriminatory.
“There cannot be different benchmarks for different corporations. Women candidates cannot suffer due to any arbitrary policy or any arbitrary approval of any such norms by the State Government, which discriminates between women candidates who are similarly situated” the order of October 26 stated.
The order was passed on a plea by 4 women who moved the Court claiming they were being discriminated against on the ground that the eligible height for participating in the selection process for fire extinguisher in the fire brigade of Pune Municipal Corporation was 162 cm.
This was despite the fact that the Maharashtra Fire Brigade Service Administration had notified a minimum of 157 cm of height.
The women claimed that barring 4 municipal corporations – Nagpur, Mumbai, Thane and Pune – all other corporations adhered to the MFBSA norm.
Source: Barandbench
