New Delhi: Three years after he cleared the
Civil Services Exams, a visually impaired man Ravi Prakash
Gupta is all set to join the elite Indian Administrative
Services(IAS) with the Supreme Court today directing the
Centre to grant him posting within eight weeks.
A Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph also
directed the Centre to pay a cost of Rs 20,000 to Gupta who
had successfully argued his own case in the apex court.
The apex court passed the direction in a judgement
upholding the findings of the Delhi High Court that the
government was under an obligation to fill up the seven posts
lying vacant since 1996 reserved for persons with disabilities
under the Disabilities Act. The Bench rejected the argument of the Centre that the
posts could be filled up only after they are identified.
"The submission made on behalf of the Union of India
regarding the implementation of the provisions of Section 33
of the Disabilities Act, 1995, that only after identification
of posts suitable for such appointment, under Section 32
thereof, runs counter to the legislative intent with which the
Act was enacted.
"To accept such a submission would amount to accepting a
situation where the provisions of Section 33 of the aforesaid
Act could be kept deferred indefinitely by bureaucratic
inaction," the apex court said.
The Delhi High Court had in Feburary 25, 2009, passed a
similar direction asking the government to appoint Gupta and
imposed a fine of Rs 25,000. Aggrived, the Centre moved the
apex court.
Prakash cleared the civil service examination in 2006 but
was denied an appointment by the Department of Personnel and
Training on the ground that there was only one post meant for
handicapped persons, which included persons with other
physical disabilities.
Interpreting the provisions of the Disabilities Act,
the apex court said it was true that unless posts are
identified for the purposes of Section 33 of the aforesaid
Act, no appointments from the reserved categories contained
therein can be made.
However, it said "such dependence would be for the
purpose of making appointments and not for the purpose of
making reservation. In other words, reservation under Section
33 of the Act is not dependent on identification, as urged on
behalf of the Union of India, though a duty has been cast upon
the appropriate government to make appointments in the number
of posts reserved for the three categories mentioned in
Section 33 of the Act in respect of persons suffering from
the disabilities spelt out therein."
-PTI
