Providing succour to the disabled persons is the moral responsibility of a welfare state. It is a social binding because the society cannot afford to leave a section unattended when it is unable to fend for itself. That is why in the Indian Constitution, providing succour to the disabled persons has been incorporated as a clause.
One important way of providing succour to them is to provide them jobs in the Government which they can handle in view of their physical handicaps. Thus the practice of the Central Government is to keep 3 per cent jobs reserved for the disabled persons. In a court case dealing with the reservation for disabled in category A and B, the Supreme Court has noticed that the representation of persons with disability (PWD) was far below 3 per cent as stipulated in the Act (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation Act, 1995)
In a petition filed by disabled employees of Prasar Bharati against the two Memoranda of the organization, the Supreme Court directed the Government to give three per cent reservation to persons with disability (PWD) in all services, irrespective of the mode of filling such posts. The Court further directed the Government to extend three per cent reservation to PWD in all identified posts in Group A and Group B irrespective of the mode of filling up of such posts. It held “illegal” the two memoranda issued by the Department of Personnel and Training in February 1997 and December 2005 as these had denied the statutory benefit of three per cent quota in identified posts which could be reserved for PWD, falling under Groups A and B.
We appreciate the order of the Supreme Court that safeguards the interests of PWD by ensuring their reservation including under Group A and B.
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