HC uphold 2008 appointment of 4 district information officers
The Bombay HC overturned a MAT ruling, reinstating four district information officers' appointments, despite challenges over reservation and age limits.
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday set aside a judgement of the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) that had struck down the selection of four candidates as district information officers.

The MAT had struck down the appointment of Meenal Joglekar, Kirti Moharil, Varsha Andhale and Kiran Moghe, after observing that the three posts from open category were wrongly reserved for women and only one of the posts should have been reserved. MAT had passed the order on a plea filed by Sanjay Bhokardole, a candidate for the same post.
The director general of Information and Public Relations had given an advertisement for eight posts of district information officer in 2008. Out of the eight posts, one post was reserved for candidates from the Schedule Castes category, three posts were reserved for candidates from the Other Backward Class and four posts were kept for candidates from the Open category. Of these four posts, three posts were reserved for women and one post was reserved for sportspersons.
Bhokardole, then 37-years-old, was not called for the examination held for selection to the post, the upper age limit for which was 35 years. However, he was later allowed to take the exam under the directions of the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court.
After taking the exam, Bhokardole, who was not called for the oral examination, approached the MAT for relaxation in the upper age limit on the grounds that he deserved to be selected for his exceptional experience. However, by this time, Joglekar and others had already been appointed to the posts.
Bhokardole challenged this appointment before the MAT, which held it to be illegal. The MAT observed that Bhokardole’s had supervisory experience which the selected candidates lacked and held that candidature for the post ought to be reconsidered.
However, the high court while hearing the plea, observed that Bhokardole had failed to raise any grounds to prove that his application for age relaxation was considered by a committee that was not empowered to do so. The court further recorded that the MAT, too, had failed to record anything to infer that the selection committee’s findings were arbitrary.
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