New Delhi, Nov 16 (UNI) Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a petition against the appointment of Sanjay Dwivedi as new Director General (DG) of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC).

Petitioner Ashutosh Mishra, challenging the appointment of Dwivedi submitted before the court that a bachelor's degree was necessary to work in the media field or as a journalist and any work prior to getting the degree cannot be considered. He alleged that Dwivedi did not have the minimum required experience of 25 years when he was selected for the post because he got a bachelors degree only in 1995 so his years of work experience has to be counted from then. He will have 25 years of work experience only by December this year counting from his graduation, but he was selected for the post much before.

IIMC submitted before the court that Bachelor's degree not mandatory to work in journalism. He submitted that a bachelor's degree was not a must to work in the field of media or films and the advertisement for the post said that work experience has to be in the fields of journalism/media/films and Dwivedi satisfies the criteria.

Delhi High Court Justice Jyoti Singh after hearing the submission said that the candidature of Dwivedi was first scrutinised by the high powered Search-cum-Selection Committee which gave its recommendation on February 24 followed by an approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The court said, “The committee constituted of the experts in the field with knowledge in the subject was best equipped to decide whether respondent No.3 i.e. Dwivedi fulfilled the requirements of the advertisement. In the absence of any allegations of mala fides it is not for this Court to interfere with the wisdom of the experts.”

The Judge said that the courts have a limited role to play while examining the recommendations of the expert selection committees and it is prudent and safe to leave the decision to the academician and experts in the field so there was no merit in the petition and the committee of experts having knowledge in the subject was best equipped to decide whether Sanjay Dwivedi fulfilled the requirements of the advertisement issued for the post.

After hearing all the arguments the court said,“ For all the aforesaid reasons, I find no merit in the present petition and the same is accordingly dismissed.”

UNI XC JW1717