India News | Cal HC Orders Govt Health Dept to Reconstitute Dist Committees

Kolkata, Dec 13 (PTI) Holding that selection boards with neutral chairmen will ensure fair selection in public employment, Calcutta High Court Tuesday ordered West Bengal government's health department to reconstitute district committees for selecting contractual employees.

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The selection committees should be headed by chairmen who are neutral and in respect of whom there is no real likelihood or danger of bias in selecting the candidates, it said.

A division bench of the HC presided by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava directed the health and family welfare department of the state government to reconstitute the committees within two weeks by appointing eminent persons as chairmen.

"Such reconstitution of the selection committees with neutral chairmen having no political lineage will ensure fair selection in the public employment," the bench, also comprising Justice R Bharadwaj, said in its judgement.

Petitioner Pijus Patra had in a PIL challenged the selection committees constituted by an order of the state government of November 26, 2021, relating to the selection of contractual employees for appointment under the health and family welfare department in different districts and health districts of West Bengal.

The petitioner claimed that all the selection committees constituted in different districts have political leaders, MLAs or ministers of the ruling party as chairpersons and expressed apprehension that nepotism and malpractice may occur in the selection of candidates.

Opposing the prayer, state Advocate General S N Mookerjee submitted that there is no bar to having politicians as chairpersons of the selection board.

Submitting that interview of candidates has little weight in the selection process, the AG claimed that no case for interference is made out by the petitioner.

The court observed that the list provided by the petitioner clearly demonstrates that ministers, MLAs and leaders of the ruling party (TMC) have been appointed as chairmen of the district-level committee in all the 28 health districts.

"None of the chairmen except one is a doctor connected with or having expertise in the field of health services," and since the matter relates to public employment it is necessary to have "fair selection".

Moazzem Hossain, a doctor and a TMC leader, had been made the chairman of Malda district health service.

The court said that even if the weightage of an interview is 10 to 15 per cent, any incidence of bias can render the process non-transparent and cause serious prejudice to the candidates appearing in the interview.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)