HC seeks Centre's response on plea against recruitment process of President's Bodyguard
New Delhi, Dec 26 : The Delhi High Court has sought response of the Centre and the Chief of the Army Staff on a plea alleging that only three castes were considered for recruitment to the President's Bodyguard.
A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Sanjeev Narula issued notice to the Ministry of Defence, Chief of the Army Staff, Commandant of the President's Bodyguard and Director, Army Recruitment, on the petition.
"Reply shall be filed within four weeks. Rejoinder, if any, shall be filed before the next date. List on May 8, 2019," the bench said.
The court was hearing a PIL by Haryana resident Gaurav Yadav, who sought setting aside of the recruitment of President's Bodyguard which was held on September 4, 2017 as only three castes -- Jats, Rajputs and Jat Sikhs were invited for it.
The petitioner said he belonged to Ahir/Yadav caste and fulfilled all the eligibility criteria of recruitment as President's Bodyguard except caste and sought that he be recruited for the post.
The petition, filed through advocate Ram Naresh Yadav, said the "preferential treatment" provided to the three castes has deprived other citizens, who were also eligible, of the opportunity of recruitment.
"The recruitment criteria so formulated and followed contains an arbitrary classification which is based on caste and henceforth, it being in the nature of class legislation, stands in complete violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Also, the recruitment process stands in violation of Article 15(1) which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, caste, sex, colour and place of birth," the plea alleged.
It said there was discrimination in the recruitment process on the basis of caste and that Article provides for non-discrimination by the state in employment to public office.
"However, in the present case, since only three castes were allowed to be recruited to the office of Presidential Bodyguards, which is indeed a public office, there is violation of Article 16 as well," it alleged.
The petition sought quashing of the recruitment policy based on caste/ region/ religion in the President's Bodyguard and issuance of a direction to the Army to conduct the recruitment on non-discriminate grounds.
"Quash the recruitment of the President's Bodyguard as the same being unconstitutional and against the fundamental right of the citizens of India," it said.
Earlier, the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court had refused to entertain a PIL on the issue, saying it does not get into these kind of PILs.
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MediaOne TV Facebook page restored after block linked to ‘government request’
Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.
The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.
In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.
The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.
The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.
