News

Volume 4 Issue 2 - January 15, 2006

H.C. issues notices to Centre and U.P.S.C. on discriminatory norms for disabled category candidates

D.N.I.S. News Network – In a development that could swing open the doors of the country’s top bureaucratic jobs to disabled people, the Delhi High Court has issued notices to the Centre and Union Public Service Commission (U.P.S.C.) on a petition seeking a stay on the May-2006 Civil Services Examinations Preliminary until the norms for disabled candidates are brought at par with other reserved sections.

Justice Vikramjit Sen, who issued the notices, asked the respondents to file their replies within four weeks and posted the matter for further hearing in March 2006.

The petitioner, Sunil Kumar, an orthopaedically disabled aspirant, through his counsel Kamal Mehta had urged the Court to grant a minimum of 10 attempts for disabled people at par with other reserved category candidates.

It was submitted that while the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe were granted unlimited attempts to succeed in the exams, members of the Other Backward Castes are permitted as many as seven attempts.

It must be pointed here that in the Civil Services Examinations 2004, only four disabled candidates were selected - three in the general category and one in the Scheduled Caste quota - among a total of 422 successful candidates. This is far from the three per cent quota as mandated by the Disability Act 1995.