The Bombay High Court has recently observed that having different height eligibility criteria for women firefighter jobs in municipal corporations is “arbitrary”.
A division bench comprising Justice GS Kulkarni and Justice Jitendra Jain was hearing a petition filed by female candidates who participated in the selection process for the post of firefighter conducted by the Pune Municipal Corporation.
The female candidates argued that they were facing discrimination because they did not meet the height criteria established by the corporation.
According to the Pune Municipal Corporation, women must have a minimum height of 162 cm to be eligible to participate in the selection process.
The petitioners argued that the Maharashtra Fire Brigade Service Administration had set a minimum height requirement of 157 cm for women candidates for the post of a fire extinguisher.
They further claimed that only Pune Corporation, Nagpur Municipal Corporation, Mumbai Municipal Corporation, and Thane Municipal Corporation had adopted the 162 cm height requirement for women candidates, while several other similar corporations maintained the 157 cm requirement for such posts.
The division bench said women candidates cannot suffer due to any arbitrary policy or any arbitrary approval of any such norms by the state government.
“In our opinion, prima facie case has been made out by the petitioners of an apparent discrimination. There cannot be different benchmarks for different corporations. Women candidates cannot suffer due to any arbitrary policy or any arbitrary approval of any such norms by the state government, which discriminates between women candidates who are similarly situated,” the bench said.
The bench granted interim relief to the petitioners, directing the Pune Municipal Corporation to allow them to participate in the selection process and not disqualify them on the grounds of not meeting the minimum height requirement of 162 cm.
The high court will hear the petition on November 9.
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