Kerala HC quashes 'Only Males Can Apply' jobs that denies jobs to women citing night hours

Kerala High Court made a crucial judgement on Friday that a rightfully qualified woman cannot be denied employment based on her gender just because the nature of the job would require her to work during night hours.

Kerala Minerals and Metals, a State public sector undertaking in Kollam had published a job notification for a permanent post of Safety Officer in the fire department that mentioned only male candidates can apply for the job. Twenty-five-year-old Treasa Josfine, an engineer by profession, challenged this in the court. Josfine had also worked as a trainee in the same company as a graduate engineer trainee for 1.5 years

Justice Anu Sivaraman who passed the order in the petitioner's favour noted that this restriction violates Article 14,15, and 16 of the Indian constitution.

The counsel for the PSU in the counter affidavit had submitted that  Safety Officer is a statutory post and the provisions of the Factory Act,1948  which states women employees shall not be required to work except between 6 am and 7 pm. Contending that the safety officers job is a round-the-clock job, it also took the support of  Section 66(1)(b) of the Factories Act that lays guidelines of social welfare measure and the safety of employees.

Justice Anu Sivaraman, who passed the order, noted that the employer is bound to take all appropriate measures to see that a woman is able to carry out her duties assigned to her at all hours, safely and conveniently.  "If that be so, there would be no reason for denying appointments to a qualified hand only on the ground that she is a woman and because the nature of the employment world requires her to work during night hours," the order stated.

Observing that Section 66(1)(b) of the Factories Act is a protective provision and not be used for denying a job to a woman, the court directed the company to consider the application submitted by the petitioner for appointment to the post of safety officer.  Advocate P R Milton and Adv George Varghese Manachirackel appeared for the petitioner.