Chandigarh, August 22
Justice delayed is justice denied for Usha Gulati whose case for the post of a nursery teacher remains undecided 26 years after she first filed it in the court.
Now, at 58, to add to her disillusionment, the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to transfer her case to the Central Administrative Tribunal is hardly a ray of hope for her. Usha Gulati, a resident of Chandigarh, was one of the hopeful candidates for the post of nursery teacher in the UT Education Department when she applied way back in 1981.
Congratulatory messages started pouring in when she was placed ninth in the list of 21 selected candidates then.
As luck would not have it, eight candidates had joined when the department received a complaint by some left out candidates crying foul about the selection process and the list starting from rank nine had to be called off.
“We went and complained about the same to the then Chief Administrator, BS Sarao, stating that scrapping half the list was not fair in itself,” said Usha.
The Chief Administrator then ordered a revaluation of the entire list. To her utter shock, the new list included five names that never figured in the previous list. She, along with a few other candidates, then again approached the Chief Administrator who assured her that the matter would be rechecked. After nearly waiting for another year, nothing was heard from the department despite repeated visits to enquire about the
list.
After a long silence, the department then again allowed the same appointments as per the old list. Tired of the high-handedness of the authorities, Usha finally filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the appointments. A notice was issued to the education department and the writ was admitted unopposed.
Since 1983 till 2009, Gulati never heard from the court as to when the hearing would take place in the court when finally on this August 4, she received a letter from the court informing her that her case number, Civil writ Petition (CWP) 2604 of 1983, Usha Gulati versus Chandigarh Administration has been transferred to CAT (Central Administrative Tribunal).
Now that she has already attained the age of superannuation, even if a decision is taken in her favour, she only stands to get pensionary benefits but that too perhaps, may take another couple of years.
