The single judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court held that the denial of employment to the female candidate is against the provision made in Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India. The court noted that in exceptional cases where there is no male nominee, the proposal for female employment was being considered by the Eastern Coalfields Limited and, as such, on the basis of gender, denying employment is against the mandate of the Constitution of India.
Brief Facts:
The factual matrix of the case is that Eastern Coalfields Limited entered into an agreement with the father of the Petitioner with regard to the use of the land/extracting the coal. Thereafter, the proposal regarding the procurement of land was also initiated, however, the General Manager advised the Agent/Manager to make an agreement with the land owners. Furthermore, the father of the Petitioner approached the Hon’ble Court by way of filing a writ petition and the learned single judge bench directed the Eastern Coalfields Limited to pay compensation as well as employment to the dependent of the father of the petitioner. The same was challenged by Eastern Coalfields Limited by way of filing a L.P.A. and the same was dismissed. The employment of the Petitioner was denied and the same is challenged by way of filing a present writ petition.
Contentions of the Petitioner:
The Petitioner submitted that the ground taken by the Eastern Coalfields Limited for denying the employment was that the female candidate could not be provided employment and only the male candidate could be provided employment. It was furthermore submitted that an absolute bar on women seeking criteria or command appointments would not comport with the guarantee of equality under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The Petitioner relied upon the judgment titled Secretary, Ministry of Defence v. Babita Puniya and others.
Contentions of the Respondent:
The Respondent submitted that it was decided that employment against land should be provided to males only in view of the limited employment opportunities in mining. It was furthermore submitted that in exceptional cases where there is no male nominee, the proposal for female employment should be placed before the Board for its consideration.
Observations of the Court:
The Hon’ble Court observed that denying the female candidate employment would be in violation of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India.
The court furthermore observed that as per the counter-affidavit filed by the Respondent Eastern Coalfields Limited was considering a proposal for female employment in exceptional circumstances in the absence of a male nominee. As a result, it is unconstitutional to deny an applicant employment based solely on gender.
Based on these considerations, the court quashed the letter issued by the Respondent by which the Petitioner was denied employment.
The decision of the Court:
With the above direction, the court allowed the Writ Petition.
Case Title: Shipra Tewary V. M/s Coal India Limited
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi
Case No.: W.P. (C) No. 1320 of 2023
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Mahesh Tewari, Advocate
Advocates for the CIL: Mr. Amit Kumar Das, Advocate Mr. Shivam Utkarsh Sahay, Advocate
Advocate for the ECL: Mr. Rajesh Lala, Advocate
Read Judgment @Latestlaws.com
Picture Source :
