Conduct special drive to fill up vacancies reserved for persons with disabilities: Delhi High Court to government

The Delhi High Court on Monday ordered the Delhi government to carry out a special recruitment drive to fill up vacancies reserved for persons with disabilities (PwDs) in various government departments. .A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad passed the order after noting that there are 1,351 vacancies available under the Direct Recruitment quota for PwD candidates, which includes 356 vacant posts for visually impaired people..The Court directed the Delhi government’s concerned departments to send the requisition to the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSB) and the Union Public Service Commission (UPBSC) within a month.The DSSB and UPSC have been directed to issue notification advertisements within 30 days thereafter.“The DSSSB/UPSC, as the case may, shall conduct written test/ interview/ process of selection within 30 days from the last date of receipt of applications by the DSSSB/ UPSC…The DSSSB/ UPSC, as the case may, shall declare the result and the process of appointment be concluded within a period of 30 days from the date of declaration of result/ interview,” the order stated..On the issue of vacancies to be filled through promotion, the Court called for a notification highlighting the eligible candidates for consideration and obtaining of Annual Performance Assessment Report (APAR) or other relevant information in respect of eligible candidates within a period of 45 days.“Convening of Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC)/ Interview by the concerned authority be concluded within 45 days from the date of finalization of the list of eligible candidates… The order of appointment be issued within 30 days from the date of convening of DPC/ Interview, as the case may be.”.The Court passed the order in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by an organisation named National Federation of the Blind alleging inaction on the part of the government authorities in filling up vacancies which are reserved for blind and low vision candidates.It was stated that despite orders of the Supreme Court, the authorities were not filling up the vacancies and reservation was not being provided to visually impaired candidates.Pursuant to a court order, the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (SCPD) had filed a report revealing that 1,351 vacancies are available under Direct Recruitment quota for PwDs, including 356 vacancies for visually impaired persons. The report further said that in the matter of promotion quota, the vacancies available are 852, including 149 vacancies for visually impaired persons..While passing the order, the Court directed the SCPD to continue to monitor this special recruitment drive, after which he shall be free to examine the issue by summoning the vacancy-wise roster from 33 departments/establishments of GNCTD who have reported ‘NIL’ vacancy position, the Court said.“The SCPD after examination of the said record will again workout backlog of vacancies, if any, and shall be free to direct the concerned departments/ establishments to fill up the backlog of vacancies so worked out by him in the manner and method as directed by him by adhering to the time schedule as framed by this Court.”It was made clear that any deviation in the schedule framed for filling up the vacancies will prompt the Court to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings..The Court appreciated the efforts taken by Senior Advocate SK Rungta, who appeared for the petitioner along with Advocates Shivakur Shukla, Prashant Singh and Sumit; as well as Advocate Avnish Ahlawat, who represented the Delhi government along with Advocates Tania Ahlawat, Nitesh Kumar Singh, Palak Rohmetra, Laavanya Kaushik and Aliza Alam..[Read Order]