Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Anuj Goyal vs Union Of India on 26 April, 2019
Bench: D.Y. Chandrachud, Hemant Gupta
1
ITEM NO.44 COURT NO.11 SECTION X
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 1337/2018
ANUJ GOYAL Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)
(IA 145647/2018-GRANT OF INTERIM RELIEF)
Date : 26-04-2019 This matter was called on for hearing today.
CORAM : HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE D.Y. CHANDRACHUD
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Anand Grover, Sr. Adv.
Mrigank Prabhakar, AOR
Mr. Priyam Liz Mari, Adv.
Mr. Anas Tanwir, Adv.
For Respondent(s)
Mr. Madhavi Divan, ASG
Ms. Sunita Rani Singh, Adv.
Satyalipsu Ray, Adv.
Mr. Raj Bahadur, Adv.
Mr. Ramesh Babu M.R., AOR
Ms. Manisha Singh, Adv.
Ms. Swati Setia, Adv.
Mr. Chandy Oommen, Adv.
Mr. Naresh Kaushik, Adv.
B. Purushothama Reddy, Adv.
Omung Raj Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Manoj Joshi, Adv.
Mr. Rahul Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Lakshay Juneja, Adv.
Devik Singh, Adv.
Ms. Lalitha Kaushik, Adv.
Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
Signature Not Verified
O R D E R
Digitally signed by MANISH SETHI Date: 2019.04.29 18:51:00 IST Reason: Under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act,1995, reservation for persons with disabilities was available in respect of three 2 categories, namely (i) blindness or low vision; (ii) hearing impairment; and (iii) locomotor disability or cerebral palsy.
A list of posts suitable for the above categories was notified by the Union of India on 29 July 2013. However, this list was not intended to be exhaustive and individual ministries, departments and PSUs as well as autonomous bodies were permitted to supplement the list.
The earlier legislation has now been replaced by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 20161 with effect from 19 April 2014. The Union of India has constituted an expert committee under Section 33 to identify the posts which can be held by persons belonging to the categories with benchmark disabilities. The new legislation has expanded the available categories from three to five.
Since the identification of posts is underway but will take time, by an O.M. dated 12 December 2018, the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment requested all ministries and departments including the Ministry of Financial Services to constitute expert committees for their individual departments and PSUs for the purpose of identifying posts suitable for all categories of persons with disabilities identified by Section 34(1).
The Court has been apprised of the fact that some departments including DoT and Ministry of External Affairs have constituted committees and made recommendations.
Having regard to the position which obtains at present, we 1 “RPWD Act” 3 issue the following directions:
(i) In terms of the O.M. dated 12 December 2018 bearing O.M. No. 34-16/2018-DD.III, we direct that the exercise of identifying posts suitable for all categories of disabilities covered by the RPWD Act, be initiated forthwith by all ministries and departments, if it has not already been initiated, and the exercise be completed within a period of three months from today;
(ii) The above direction shall also apply to all PSUs under the administrative control of the ministries concerned; the Reserve Bank of India and to all nationalised banks; and
(iii) The process of identification which is being carried out independently by the expert committee constituted under Section 33 by the Union of India shall continue and shall be completed expeditiously and preferably within a period of six months from today.
In the counter affidavit which has been filed by the Union of India, it has also been clarified that posts are to be identified on the basis of functional classification of the disability and the physical requirement of the post.
We direct that the process of identification be completed within the above time frame. A status report be filed on behalf of the Union of India on or before the next date of listing. A copy of the order shall be forwarded for compliance.
List on 2 August 2019.
(MANISH SETHI) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR) COURT MASTER (SH) BRANCH OFFICER