A writ petition has been filed in the Madras High Court questioning the appointment of only Hindus to teaching as well as non-teaching posts at educational institutions run by the Department of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE).
A. Suhail, 37, an aspirant to the post of office assistant at the Arulmigu Kapaleeswarar Arts and Science College at Kolathur in Chennai, filed the petition.
He said teaching and non-teaching posts had nothing to do with religious functions; everyone should be allowed to compete for them, irrespective of their religion.
In an affidavit filed through his counsel S. Doraisamy and V. Elangovan, the litigant pointed out that Article 16 of the Constitution guarantees equality of opportunity in public employment without any discrimination on the ground of religion. Article 16(5) permits appointment of people professing faith in a particular religion only to offices connected to the affairs of a religious institution.
It would effectively mean a Muslim could not be appointed as a temple priest and a Hindu could not be appointed as a Moulvi.
The exemption to the general rule of equality of opportunity could not be stretched to the extent of appointing only people professing faith in a particular religion to faculty and non-faculty positions at educational institutions run by religious institutions, he said.
Mr. Suhail urged the court to quash a recruitment notification issued by the Kolathur college on October 13 calling only Hindu candidates to appear for a walk-in interview for the posts of assistant professor, physical director, librarian, assistant, junior assistant, office assistant, watchman, cleaner and sweeper on October 18.
The petitioner said he could not approach the court before the conduct of the interview since the court was closed for Dussehra vacation. He wanted the notification to be quashed now and insisted that he be permitted to compete for the post of office assistant.
