The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to provide 4% reservation to disabled persons, including deaf and the hard of hearing, in the organisation.
“The KVS is directed to appoint deaf and hard of hearing persons by providing them 1% reservation against the total number of vacancies in the organisation...The exercise of appointing disabled persons, including deaf and hard of hearing persons must be concluded within six months,” the high court said.
Bureaucratic mismatch
The High Court said there is a “mismatch” in the understanding of different departments regarding the mandate under Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act.
“Whereas the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (Nodal Ministry under the RPwD Act) has upgraded the list of posts suitable for PwDs, the thought has not percolated to the departments which conduct recruitment,” the high court said.
The direct impact of this practice is to compel the PwDs to assert their basic rights before judicial fora, something that cannot be termed as desirable, the high court said while directing the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to issue suitable guidelines for the implementation of reservation policy by all departments in a uniform manner.
The high court’s direction came after the National Association of Deaf (NAD) wrote to the high court in December last year against an advertisement issued by KVS inviting applications for Principal, Vice Principal, Post-Graduate Teacher (PGT), Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT), Librarian, Primary Teacher (Music), Finance Officer, as well as other posts.
KVS violated Act
NAD’s grievance was that KVS has not provided 1 per cent reservation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons in the posts advertised. It said KVS has violated the statutory provisions of RPwD Act.
The letter was converted by the high court into a public interest litigation (PIL) which led to Wednesday’s verdict.
A Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula remarked, “It is unfortunate that disabled persons are being compelled to file writ petitions and are being compelled to run from pillar to post by an organisation like KVS”.
“They are not claiming any charity, they are claiming their rights as guaranteed to them under the RPwD Act,” the Bench said.
