Mental harassment I faced, opportunities I lost, cannot be compensated: PhD scholar wins 17-year-long legal battle

At 31, Dr Sonika Gupta appeared before an interview panel for the post of Assistant Professor in Agricultural Economics at Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry in 2009, armed with a PhD degree and a higher academic score than the candidate who was eventually selected. Seventeen years later, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the university to appoint her against a vacant unreserved post, with consequential service benefits, including seniority, pay fixation and continuity of service.

After a long legal course, the court’s October 8 order brought relief to Gupta, now 48, but she says the years lost to the dispute and the opportunities she missed cannot be compensated.

“The mental harassment I faced, and the opportunities I lost cannot be compensated,” Gupta told The Indian Express. “The post was advertised in 2008. When I appeared for the interview in 2009, I was married, and my daughter was one-and-a-half years old. Since then, so much has changed. My colleagues and classmates have progressed in their careers, with many becoming professors, settling abroad, etc. Those 17 years cannot be brought back,” she said.

A native of Ghumarwin in Bilaspur district, Gupta completed her PhD in Agricultural Economics from Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, in 2007.

The university advertised the post in 2008, and three candidates were shortlisted for an interview held in 2009.
Gupta said the prescribed eligibility criteria required a PhD in Agricultural Economics, with relaxation up to a master’s degree. She said she was the only PhD holder among the candidates and had the highest overall score, yet she was denied the appointment.

According to the university’s evaluation records, Gupta secured 65.77 marks against 49.38 obtained by the selected candidate, who is now an Associate Professor and head of the department. The difference between their scores was 16.39 marks.

“Now I am the mother of three children. My eldest daughter, Vadika Thakur, who was a toddler when this dispute began, is pursuing a Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) at a government institute in Punjab. My younger daughter, Ridhima Thakur, is in Class XI, while my son, Varun Dev Thakur, is in Class III,” Gupta said.

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Gupta, who is working on an agriculture-related project in an outsourced capacity, said the appointment dispute not only affected her professional prospects, but also the course of her life. Recalling the financial implications of the delay, Gupta said the post carried an initial pay scale of Rs 8,000, with the monthly salary amounting to around Rs 25,000 at the time.

Gupta credited her husband, Parmod Thakur, for standing by her throughout the legal battle.

Thakur, a farm manager, who holds the charge of OSD to the Vice-Chancellor at CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, Palampur, said the family pursued the matter through several legal forums.

“We approached the High Court in 2009, days after the result was declared. In 2012, the High Court set aside the selection committee’s recommendations and directed the university authorities to reconsider the 2009 appointment. However, the committee initially refused to change its stand. The matter was subsequently referred to the State Administrative Tribunal in 2015. After the tribunal was abolished in 2019, the family had to approach the High Court again,” Thakur said.

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Findings of 5-member committee

A five-member committee headed by the university’s Vice-Chancellor, constituted following an order of the High Court on September 9, examined the recruitment process and submitted its report on September 18. It concluded that Gupta had been wrongly denied consideration for appointment to the unreserved post and recommended her appointment to a vacant post, effective from 2010. The committee also flagged shortcomings in the selection criteria, observing that they had not been clearly defined in advance or applied uniformly to all candidates. It recommended an independent, high-level inquiry into the recruitment process, including the selection committee’s functioning, the reservation roster and the determination of posts and specialisations.

Allowing Gupta’s petition on October 8, Justice Jiya Lal Bhardwaj directed the university to offer her appointment against a vacant unreserved post from 2010, with all consequential benefits, including seniority, pay fixation and continuity of service.

A senior official of Dr YS Parmar University for Agriculture & Forestry said, “The High Court decision will be reviewed as per the University guidelines and government policies. Indeed, the High Court has decided in the favor of the petitioner.”