New Delhi, Mar 3 (IANS): The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Delhi government and the Centre on a plea challenging the appointment of the Managing Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and seeking direction to fix a uniform age of 60 years for external and internal candidates applying for the post.

A division bench presided over by Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna granted time to the respondents to file their replies to the Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

However, the court refused to stay the appointment process at this stage.

Further hearing in the matter has been posted for April 29.

According to the petitioner BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the notification dated February 10 is arbitrary and is violating equality rights.

Challenging the notification, Upadhyay contended that as per the notice, tenure of the post of five years and the date of superannuation of 65 years is uniform for both internal and external candidates.

It said there is no provision for extensions of tenure at a later date.

"Requirements of tenure and superannuation are uniform for external and internal candidates. Thus, the external candidate must have 7 years of time left to reach the age of retirement while the job is only for 5 years. The external candidate is thus expected to retire at 63 years and not 65 years. It is evident that there is a mismatch or discrimination," it said, adding that the notification is manifestly arbitrary, irrational, unfair and brazenly violates Articles 14, 16, 21.

The plea alleged that the Delhi government extended the tenure of the present Managing Director four times under the "garb" of non-availability of a suitable candidate but suddenly reduced the maximum age for applicants from other Metros such as Lucknow Metro, Chennai Metro, etc where candidates with desired skills are working at senior positions and could be potential applicants.