Give advance notice of rule requiring candidates wearing kara/kirpan to be present at exam centre 1 hour before: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that examination authorities should give advance notice of rules requiring candidates wearing a kara (bangle) or kirpan (dagger) to appear at the exam centre one hour before the reporting time [Mrs Manharleen Kaur v. UOI and Ors]..Justice Rekha Palli directed the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) and other agencies,“It is expected that not only the DSSSB but all other recruiting agencies who conduct similar examinations will take appropriate steps in this regard well before the conduct of the examinations,” the Court said..The Court was dealing with a case filed by an Amritdhari Sikh woman named Manharleen Kaur against DSSB and the examination centre which prevented her from appearing in the PGT-Economics (female) examination because she was wearing a metallic kara. She was also forced to cut the sleeves or her dress in half.The petitioner argued that there was no prior information by the DSSB stating that candidates wearing kara will not be allowed to appear unless they reach the exam centre an hour beforehand. A notification to this effect was issued two days after the exams were held..Counsel for the DSSB argued that there was such candidates would be allowed to appear for the examination, provided they reach the examination centre one hour before the reporting time..After hearing the parties, Justice Palli noted,"It is highly unfortunate that a specialised body like the DSSSB, which is regularly conducting examinations for selection to various posts in the public sectors in Delhi and in which examinations, a large number of Sikh candidates regularly appear, did not bother to take any timely action to inform the candidates that if they were desirous of wearing a kara and/or kirpan, they were required to reach the examination centre atleast one hour before the reporting time."The Court criticised the Board for not having taken any steps to inform candidates about this requirement to reach the examination centre at least one hour before the reporting time, and held that the petitioner was wrongly prevented from appearing for the examination. It added that the actions of the respondents are clearly unsustainable and are liable to be quashed..Nevertheless, the Court refused to grant the prayer of the petitioner to be appointed against a post that was earlier directed to be kept vacant.Justice Palli, however, asked counsel appearing for the DSSB to obtain instructions about the time within which a fresh examination for the post is likely to be held so that the petitioner can appear for the examination once again..Advocates Gurmukh Singh Arora, Kapil Madan and Saurabh Gauba appeared for the petitioner.Advocate Jaswinder Singh appeared for the Central government.Standing Counsel Avnish Ahlawat along with Advocates Nitesh Kumar Singh, Palak Rohmetra, Tania Ahlawat, Lavanya Kaushik and Aliza Allam appeared for the Delhi government..[Read Order]