Gujarat High Court asks ISRO to clarify recruitment rules

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday asked the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to clarify the rules and the attributes, based on which the marks in the oral interview — for the position of catering supervisor in its Ahmedabad unit — was distributed.

The direction came in response to a 2017 judgment of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). The tribunal had directed ISRO to appoint one Sudhir Kumar for the position, who was one of the final three candidates selected for the post. Notably, ISRO had challenged the CAT judgment before the high court on which the hearing was held on Tuesday.

The court, during the hearing, remarked that just because ISRO works on the subject of space does not mean that its rules are also from space. It said that ISRO must produce the same before the court. ISRO, in its appeal against the CAT judgment, had contended before the court that the same process has been followed by it across the country.

As per the case details, the selection procedure for the position was held around the year 2012-13. Three candidates were selected for the oral interview after the written exam. One among them was selected for the position.

However, Kumar had alleged that there was no clarity on how the selection was done and he was the highest scorer if the written exam and oral interview marks are taken into consideration. The candidate originally selected for the position, unfortunately died in an accident and Kumar moved CAT which ruled in his favour, which has been challenged before the high court by ISRO.