Orissa High Court
Orissa Association Of Blind vs State Of Odisha And Others .... Opposite ... on 12 December, 2023
Bench: B. R. Sarangi, Murahari Sri Raman
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.P.(C) No.20916 of 2022
Orissa Association of Blind .... Petitioner
Mr. Omkar Devdas, Advocate
-versus-
State of Odisha and others .... Opposite Parties
Mr. Lalatendu Samantaray, AGA
CORAM:
ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE DR. B. R. SARANGI
MR. JUSTICE MURAHARI SRI RAMAN
ORDER
12.12.2023 Order No.
09. 1. The matter is taken up through hybrid mode.
2. Heard Mr. Omkar Devdas, learned counsel for the Petitioner and Mr. Lalatendu Samantaray, learned Additional Government Advocate for the State-Opposite Parties.
3. The Petitioner-Organisation has filed this writ petition praying for a direction to the Opposite Parties to provide reservation in promotion by implementing the provisions of Sections-33 and 34 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
4. It is submitted that in Rajeev Kumar Gupta and others v. Union of India and others (2016) 13 SCC 153, it was held that persons with disabilities are entitled for reservation in promotions. It is further stated at the Bar that after detailed consideration of Judgments in Union of India and another v. National Federation of the Blind and others, (2013) 10 SCC 772; National Federation of the Blind v. Sanjay Kothari, Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training, (2015) 9 SCALE 611; and Rajeev Kumar Gupta (supra), the Hon'ble Supreme Court rejected the request of Page 1 of 3 Union of India for reconsideration of judgment in Rajeev Kumar Gupta (supra). Therefore, the Supreme Court vide order dated 28th September, 2021 in Miscellaneous Application No.2171 of 2020 in Civil Appeal No.1567 of 2017 (Siddaraju v. The State of Karnataka and others) re-stated that the Union and the State Governments are bound by the judgments referred to above.
5. The Opposite Parties No.1 and 2-State has filed the counter affidavit, where in paragraph-10, it has been stated as under:
"10. That, in reply to the averments made in Paragraph-14 of the writ petition it is submitted that,
i) As per Section 33 of RPwD Act, 2016, the State Government have constituted an expert committee for identification of post vide notification No. 3931 dated 24.05.2022.
Pursuant to provision of Section 33(i) of RPwD Act, 2016, this Department formulated (Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department) SSEPD resolution No. 1843 dated 25.02.2021 which mandates "Each establishment under State Government or Public Sector undertakings shall identify posts in Group A, B, C and D posts to be reserved for different categories of persons with disabilities in consultation with this Department, and the Appointing Authority may also give appointment against any post which is not included in the list of post as identified, if it is considered that the physical requirement of the post can be suitable for a person with disability". Accordingly, all Departments were requested time and against to submit information for identification of base level posts in their respective Departments and subordinate offices under their control. Further, this Department suo-moto fixed a schedule for meeting with all Administrative Departments for collecting necessary information for identification of base level posts. The participating Departments were made aware with the provisions of RPwD Act, 2016 and identification of base level posts for PwDs. After receipt of information from all Page 2 of 3 Departments, necessary steps will be taken for notification of identification of post for PwDs.
ii) As per Section 34 of RPwD Act, 2016, this Department formed a resolution No. 1843 dt. 25.02.2021 to provide 4% reservation in direct recruitment for persons with benchmark disabilities under clauses (a), (b) and (c) and one per cent. for persons with benchmark disabilities under clauses (d) and (e), namely: (a) blindness and low vision;
(b) deaf and hard of hearing; (c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; (d) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness; (e) multiple disabilities form amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness in the posts identified for each disabilities as per the provisions of RPwD Act, 2016. As per the above resolution, every department submits proposal for recruitment of various posts under the Administrative control of their department regarding reservation of posts for PwDs in direct recruitment. On receipt of proposal for vetting, SSEPD Department directs the concerned Administrative Department to reserve 4% of the vacancies in case of direct recruitment for PwDs."
6. It appears that the relief sought for by the Petitioner has been accepted. However, learned counsel for the Petitioner has contended that a time may be fixed for implementation of the same.
7. The relief sought for by the Petitioner having been accepted by the Opposite Parties in the aforementioned paragraph-10 of the counter affidavit, the writ petition stands disposed of.
(DR. B. R. SARANGI)
ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed (M. S. RAMAN)
Signed by: MRUTYUNJAYA PANDA
Designation: Secretary JUDGE
M. Panda
Reason: Authentication
Location: High Court of Orissa, Cuttack
Date: 14-Dec-2023 17:50:29
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