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The Delhi High Court bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Neena Bansal today issued notice to the Delhi Government in a plea challenging the process to appoint the new Managing Director (MD) of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Filed by BJP leader Adv. Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the plea states that the appointment process for the post was arbitrary due to the difference between cut-off age of non-Delhi Metro applicants (58) and employees of DMRC (60).

It has been contended that the notification is "manifestly arbitrary, irrational, unfair and contrary to the due procedure of law" and "brazenly violative of Articles 14, 16, 21 of the Constitution, hence, void and inoperative," as it also only considers Delhi Metro employees as "internal candidates".

The plea argues against the non-extension of this benefit to those of other metro corporations in other cities despite the fact that all of these operate in a similar joint-venture structure with the union Urban Development Ministry.

Alleging that the notification seems to have been issued to appoint a particular person to the post, Upadhyay pointed out that earlier advertisements for posts of Directors of Finance and Operations had no such differential age cut-offs.

He therefore sought the quashing of the notification and prayed for the upper-age limit to be uniform and non-arbitrary given the specialised nature of the post.

Cause Title: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs Govt of NCT of Delhi and Ors