In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court on
Monday held that visually impaired persons cannot be denied opportunity of
employment in judicial services.
A bench comprising justices J B Pardiwala and R
Mahadevan had reserved the judgement on six petitions, including a suo motu (on
its own) case, on December 3, last year over non-grant of quota to such
candidates in judicial services in a few states.
Pronouncing the verdict, Justice Mahadevan said that
persons with disabilities must not face any discrimination in their pursuit of
judicial service recruitments and that the State must provide them affirmative
action to ensure an inclusive framework.
"Any indirect discrimination that results in
the exclusion of persons with disabilities, whether through cutoff or
procedural barriers must be interfered with in order to uphold substantive
equality," the judge said.
The judgement said no candidate can be denied
consideration solely on account of their disability.
The top court also set aside certain rules of the
Madhya Pradesh Services Examination (Recruitment and Conditions of Services)
Rules 1994 to the extent they barred visually impaired and low vision
candidates from entering the judicial service.
The pleas pertained to the validity of Rule 6A and 7
of the Madhya Pradesh rules.
The PWD (persons with the disabilities) candidates,
who had participated in the selection process, are entitled to be considered
for judicial service selection in the light of the judgment, and they can be
appointed in the vacant posts if they are otherwise eligible, the judgement
said.
The detailed judgement is awaited.
On November 7, last year, the bench issued several
directions ensuring equitable opportunities for persons with benchmark
disabilities (PwBD) in judicial services across the country.