Reasonable discrimination between female and male for an object sought to be achieved is permissible because important limb of this concept of gender equality is creating job opportunities for women

Vaishnavi Nirmal  | Manikchand Pahade Law College, Aurangabad | 2nd March 2020 

Vijay Lakshmi vs. Punjab University and others, 2003 Appeal (Civil) 13393 of 1996

Fact of case:

Preference given to a woman for being appointed as a Principal of the Government College for Girls is held to be violative of Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India. On the face of it, it appears that such reservation in favour of a Woman for being appointed as Principal of exclusive Girls College cannot be held to be violative of right to equality.

However, this question is required to be decided in view of the judgment rendered by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in Writ Petition No.11694 of 1994 holding that Rules providing reservation / preference in favour of a woman is violative of Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution. 

For this purpose, the High Court interpreted Rules 5, 8 and 10 of the Punjab University Calendar Volume – III, which are as under:—

Rule 5. The Principal of a women’s college shall be lady who shall possess at least Master’s Degree in 1st or 2nd Class or an equivalent degree with experience of teaching in a college. This rule shall not apply to Women’s colleges whose men or women Principals have already been approved. Provided that on their retirement, a qualified lady Principal shall be appointed.

Rule 8. As far as possible, ladies shall be appointed as teachers. In case a qualified lady teacher in a particular subject is not available, the college authorities may appoint a man teacher with the prior approval of the Vice Chancellor. A man teacher so appointed shall not be confirmed by the management in his post and he shall be replaced as soon as a suitable qualified lady teacher is available.

Rule 10. The College shall have a hostel in or near the premises of the college. It shall be under the charge of a whole time Woman Superintendent. There shall a part time or whole time women Medical Officer.”

The judgment of High Court is challenged by filing this appeal.

Issues:

Whether reservation in favour of appointment of a Women Principle for Government College of Girls is violative of Right to Equality?

Judgement:

In view of the aforesaid established law interpreting Articles 14 to 16, Rules 5 and 8 of Punjab University Calendar Volume – III providing for appointment of lady principal in Women’s College or a lady teacher therein cannot be held to be violative either of Article 14 or Article 16 of the Constitution, because classification is reasonable and it has a nexus with the object sought to be achieved. In addition, the State Government is empowered to make such special provisions under Article 15 (3) of the Constitution. This power is not restricted in any manner by Article 16.

In the result the appeal was allowed. The impugned judgment rendered by the majority striking down the Rules 5, 8 & 10 of the Punjab University Calendar Volume–III as violative of Articles 14 or 16 is set aside. Minority view holding that the said Rules are not violative of Articles 14 or 16 is upheld.