Supreme Court slams Centre for making visually impaired man run from pillar to post for civil service job

The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the Central government for opposing the appointment of a visually impaired man to a civil service post, despite several vacancies for persons with disabilities (PWD) remaining unfulfilled [Union of India vs Pankaj Kumar Srivastava and anr]..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal lamented that the government had failed to properly implement laws meant to benefit persons with disabilities."Unfortunately, in this case, at all stages, the appellant (Union of India) has taken a stand which defeats the very object of enacting laws for the benefit of persons with disability. If the appellant had implemented the PWD Act,1995, in its true letter and spirit, respondent no.1 (visually impaired candidate) would not have been forced to run from pillar to post to get justice," the Court said. .The Bench proceeded to invoke its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to grant relief to Pankaj Srivastava, a visually impaired candidate, who had been litigating before various courts since 2009 for an appointment to the civil services.The appointment was ordered to be made based on a 2008 merit list and against vacancies for visually impaired candidates. The Court also directed the Central government to similarly recruit ten other candidates with disabilities, who had featured above Srivastava in the 2008 merit list. "The cases of respondent no.1 (Srivastava) and the other 10 candidates belonging to the VI category who are above him in the merit list of CSE-2008 shall be considered for appointment against the backlog vacancies of PWD candidates either in IRS (IT) or in other service/branch," the Court ordered. .Supreme Court aghast by dismal implementation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.By way of background, Srivastava had appeared for the Civil Services Examination in 2008. After undergoing the written and interview stages, he was not appointed to any post. He then moved an application before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Delhi in 2009, seeking appointment against vacancies for persons with disabilities. In 2012, the CAT passed an order stating that PWD candidates who score sufficient marks and selected from the general category, must not be counted as candidates falling under the reserved category for PWD candidates. The Delhi High Court upheld this CAT order on appeal, prompting the Central government to file another appeal before the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) told Srivastava that he was not going to be appointed even against the quota earmarked for visually impaired candidates. This was challenged by Srivastava before the Delhi High Court by way of a writ petition. On July 8, the Supreme Court granted relief to Srivastava even though his writ petition was still pending before the High Court. The top court reasoned that there were gross defaults in the Union of India's conduct and that it would be unjust to force Srivastava to continue fighting his legal battle before the High Court. "Respondent no.1 (Srivastava) has been made to run from pillar to post to get an appointment, though there is a large backlog of vacancies in various PWD categories. Therefore, relegating respondent no.1 to the High Court will be unjust. He has been fighting for justice from the year 2009. ... If the appellant had implemented the PWD Act,1995, in its true letter and spirit, respondent no.1 would not have been forced to run from pillar to post to get justice," the Court said. .[Read judgment]