Court Orders

New Delhi: Identification of IAS posts for disabled

The Centre has submitted in the Delhi High Court that it is taking steps to identify suitable posts for disabled candidates, especially the visually impaired, who clear the civil service examination.

This comes after the social Justice Ministry got a rap for not providing justice to the disabled even a decade after the Disability Act was passed. The Bench wondered why such candidates are still forced to vie with general category candidates.

Appearing for the Attorney General Milon Banerjee from whom the court had sought a report, Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said that it was the centre that was coordinating with the concerned ministries to ensure that the mandate of the Disability Act was given full effect to.

The Bench asked the centre to identify the posts at the earliest, update it periodically and also expressed the need for a social security policy for those with disability. The judges said that the announcement of incentives for employers who reserve 5 % of the posts for the disabled would be another way of opening more avenues for them. A division bench of justices Mukul Mudgal and JP Singh passed the directions while dealing with an appeal filed by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) challenging a single bench order directing the appoint a visually impaired candidate TD Dinakar who had qualified in 2001 to a Group ‘A’ post.

The UPSC told the Court that it did not recommended Dinakar’s name as he failed to “meet the standards fixed for the general category candidates” and “there were no identified posts for visually impaired category”. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) meanwhile took the plea that it would not be “legally correct either to identify any post for visually impaired or to extend standard relaxation to this category”.

Observing that the central controversy in the instant case revolves around identifying suitable posts for the disabled, the bench said that there was no justification to it even 10 years after the passage of the Disabilities Act.

Source: IAS no more a barrier for disabled. The Hindustan Times, Daily, New Delhi, 16 October 2006.

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New Delhi: DDA reserves property…..finally!

The Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to give five percent rebate to disabled people on plots, flats and shops in what could be a landmark order for people with physical disabilities. A one percent reservation in the allotment of flats and plots, and a five percent reservation in the allotment of shops will also be given to disabled people, as defined in Section 2 of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.

The order was given by the Court while hearing a petition filed by Sarita Sinha through her advocate Ashok Agarwal. Ms Sinha has sought a rebate on an allotted DDA plot according to Section 43 of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, which makes it mandatory for the government and local authorities “to notify schemes in favor of persons with disabilities, for preferential allotment of land at concessional rates.” However, the DDA refused to give concessions to her, following which she moved the Delhi High Court.

Earlier, the DDA had contended that it had a policy of reserving flats for the physically handicapped, but no concessional rates were being given, as the Centre had not approved it. In its last order, the Delhi High Court had directed the DDA and the Centre “to put their heads together and notify the scheme which must contain provisions for allotment at concessional rates for lands/flats, to handicapped persons.”

Source: 5% DDA rebate for the disabled. Asian Age, Daily, New Delhi, 17 October 2006.

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