‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ is a statement often used in the context of judicial cases that have been or are pending for long in courts of law. There could be several factors responsible for such a situation to arise. These include the complex nature of cases; a lack of judicial attention as far as the aggrieved party is concerned, and even a lack of resources/power/other kinds of support available to the aggrieved side. One such issue that has become a victim of such a state of affairs is reservation in the promotion of persons with disabilities.
Editorial | Making disability count: On why NFHS will yield more robust data on the disability sector
The Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, or the PwD Act, first recognised the right of the disabled person to be employed and promoted in government jobs on equal basis with others. In order to ensure this, it introduced 3% reservation for the disabled in employment. The reservation of seats for the disabled existed in Groups C and D prior to the introduction of the PwD Act. Now, the Act extended reservation for the disabled in Groups A and B — a progressive step towards ensuring the dignity of and equality for the disabled at all levels including career advancement in government jobs. In addition to this, it also fixed the percentage of reservation of seats at 3%, which opened the gates of recruitment to disabled people in different sectors of the government.
