Central Administrative Tribunal - Chandigarh
Unknown vs Union Public Service Commission ... on 21 December, 2016
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
CHANDIGARH BENCH
OA No. 060/00561/2016
Pronounced on : 21.12.2016
Reserved on : 15.12.2016
CORAM: HONBLE MR.SANJEEV KAUSHIK, MEMBER(J)
HONBLE MRS.RAJWANT SANDHU,MEMBER(A)
Viplove Yadav aged 22 years, son of Shri Dharam Singh Yadav, C/o Om Sanjeevni Hospital, SCO No. 87, Sector 10 A, HUDA Market, Khandsa Road, Gurgaon Haryana 122001.
.Applicant
BY: Sh. Ashok Tyagi
VERSUS
1. Union Public Service Commission through its Chairman, Dholpur House, Shahajahan Road, New Delhi 110 069
2. Union of India through its Secretary, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, North Block, New Delhi 110 001.
3. Department of Personnel and Training through its Secretary, Lok Nayak Bhawan, Khan Market, New Delhi 110 003.
..Respondents
BY ADVOCATE: Sh. B.B. Sharma for respdt. No. 1
Sh. Ram Lal Gupta for respdts. No. 2 & 3.
ORDER
HONBLE MRS. RAJWANT SANDHU, MEMBER(A):-
1. The present OA has been filed under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, seeking the following relief(s):-
(i) Set aside the notification dated 27.04.2016 (Annexure P-1) qua the vacancies regarding the candidates who are physically handicapped with Blindness or Low Vision.
(ii) Direct the respondents to amend the notification dated 27.04.2016 (Annexure P-1) qua the vacancies for persons with disability of Blindness or Low Vision as per Section 33 of The Disability Act.
2. It is stated in the OA that the applicant is a physically disabled person with disability of Low Vision and is a Graduate with 78% marks. A true copy of the disability certificate of the applicant dated 05.01.2011 is annexed as Annexure A-2. The date of birth of the applicant is 09.06.1994.
3. It is further averred that the respondents invited the applications vide Annexure A-1 for Civil Services (Preliminary Examination 2016) for recruitment to the services and posts mentioned in the advertisement on 27.04.2016 to be held on 07.08.2016 showing the number of vacancies to be filled on the result of examination expected to be approximately 1079 which include 34 vacancies reserved for physically handicapped category i.e. 14 vacancies for LDCP (Locomotors Disability or Cerebral Palsy), 7 vacancies for B/LV (Blind or Low Vision) and 13 vacancies for H.I. (Hearing Impairment). The applicant being eligible for this examination, applied for the same in the physically disabled category (Annexure A-4).
4. In the grounds for relief, it has, interalia, been stated as follows:-
(i) The respondents have committed breach of the statutory provisions of Section 33 of the Disability Act. Total number of vacancies to be filled on the result of the examination has been shown to be approximately 1079 including 34 vacancies reserved for physically handicapped categories i.e. 14 vacancies for LDCP (Locomotor Disability or Cerebral Palsy), 7 vacancies for B/LV (Blindness or Low Vision) and 13 vacancies for H.I. (Hearing Impairment). The number of vacancies reserved for the persons with disability ought to have been notified at least as 11 in each category i.e. 1% of the total. The number of total vacancies for the physically handicapped category has been given as 34 which is correct but it should be one percent for each category suffering from :-
(a) Blindness or Low Vision
(b) Hearing Impaired and
(c) Locomotor Disability or Cerebral Palsy.
The respondents have mentioned only 7 vacancies for Blindness or Low Vision category to which the applicant belongs. This ought to have been at least 11.
(ii) The Honble Apex Court in its judgement in Union of India and another Vs. National Federation of the Blind and Ors., 2013 (10) SCC 772 has held that Section 33 establishes vividly, the intention of the legislature viz. reservation of 3% for differently abled persons should be computed on the basis of total vacancies in the strength of a Cadre and not just on the basis of the vacancies available in the identified posts.
Hence this OA.
5. In the written statement filed on behalf of respondent No. 1, UPSC, it has been stated that the Civil Services Examination is a multi-stage annual examination in which a number of services participate. The total number of vacancies for which the Examination is conducted every year is arrived at after totaling the number of vacancies reported by the respective Cadre Controlling Authorities of the participating services. The Cadre Controlling Authorities report the vacancies category-wise i.e. unreserved, OBC, SC, ST and PwD. The examination notice for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination was published on 27th April, 2016 by the Commission simultaneously with the notification of the relevant rules of examination. In the Examination Notice published by the Commission on 27th April, 2016, there was a tentative indication of 34 vacancies reserved for physically disabled categories based on vacancies/indents received from Department of Personnel and Training (DOP&T) after due collation of vacancies received from the Cadre Controlling Authorities of the services participating in this examination. The Cadre Controlling Authorities maintain relevant vacancy rosters for PH categories and based on the number of vacancies available in different categories of PH in a particular year of recruitment, indents are placed with the Commission. The Government ensures that the Cadre Controlling Authorities furnish their vacancy indents after complying with the provisions contained under the PWD Act, 1995.
6. In the written statement filed on behalf of respondents No. 2 & 3, it is stated that Civil Services Examination (CSE) in the combined examination held annually by UPSC, for recruitment to various services/posts which include Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service, Central Services, Group A and Central Services Group B posts. The Cadre Controlling Authorities for the said services are various Ministries/Departments under the Government of India. The concerned Cadre Controlling Authorities determine number of vacancies to be filled in the respective services/posts during a particular CSE year and intimate the same to UPSC directly, which in turn, intimates the service-wise, category-wise vacancy position including those meant for PH category to this respondent alongwith the final result of the Civil Services Examination. Respondent is Cadre Controlling Authority (CCA) only for IAS. This Department vide its letter number 13013/02/2016-AIS-I dated 13.04.2016 (Annexure-I) has already intimated that altogether 180 vacancies (tentatively) will be filled up in IAS on the basis of CSE-2016 and out of that 5 vacancies (tentatively), are reserved for candidates belonging to Physically Handicapped category i.e. 2 for visually impaired, and 2 for hearing impaired and 1 for locomotor disability sub category. This number of vacancies is tentative. The PWD Act came into force in 1996 and since then upto 2015 (including 2015), this respondent has determined altogether 2185 vacancies for allocation to IAS and out of this altogether 66 vacancies including backlog vacancies (22 vacancies for VI sub category, 22 for HI sub category and 22 for LDCP sub category) have been earmarked for candidates belonging to PH category. This is again strictly in accordance with the provisions of the said Act and directions of the Honble Supreme Court. Further, role of this respondent is confined to approval of CSE Rules, allocation of service to the candidates recommended by UPSC against the vacancies intimated by UPSC, nomination of candidates allocated to a service for attending Foundation Course etc.
7. It is further stated that some of the participating services in the Civil Service Examination are exempted from filling of vacancies against PH category such as IPS, RPF, DANIPS and PONDIPS. Further, in some of the services, a particular sub-category (LDCP, VI and HI) of PH category are also excluded from filling up vacancies for the PH category. For example, the Cadre Controlling Authorities (CCAs) for IRS (C&CE), IA & AS and IRTS do not allow Visually Impaired candidates of PH category, CCA for IRAS and IRTS does not allow Hearing Impaired candidates of PH category.
8. It is further stated that respective Cadre Controlling Authorities for the services participating in CSE compute category-wise vacancies including for three sub-categories of PH category and report the same to UPSC/DOPT alongwith certificates in r/o PH vacancies affirming that It is certified that the requirements of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 and the policy relating to reservation for persons with disabilities has been taken care of while sending this requisition. Thereafter, DOPT compliles the same and sends a consolidated statement of vacancies to UPSC. Hence, the contention of the petitioner to calculate the vacancies for PH on the basis of total number of vacancies advertised for a particular Civil Services Examination year is without logical ground. The vacancies for physically disabled candidates are identified service-wise and not on the basis of total number of vacancies. The reason for this is that Physical Requirements and Functional Classifications (PR & FC) of different services are different. Further, the Physical Requirements and Functional Classifications of different services are identified by the respective Cadre Controlling Authorities keeping in mind the requirements of the service and the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.
9. In the replication filed on behalf of the applicant, it has been pressed that the respondent No. 1 obtains the vacancy figures meant for PH categories from the Cadre Controlling Authorities of the services participating in the Civil Services Examination. After duly collating and authenticating the same by respondent No. 3 i.e. the Department of Personnel and Training as Nodal Department for the examination, these are to be notified. The respondent No. 1 has totally failed to observe that respondent No. 3 did not duly collate and authenticate the vacancy figures meant for PH category as there is a gross violation of Section 33 of the PWD Act, 1995. The respondent No. 1 has blindly accepted the vacancy figures provided by the Cadre Controlling Authorities through respondent No. 3 whereas the vacancy figure of 7 provided for PH category i.e. B/LV (Blind or Low Vision) is in violation of Section 33 of PWD Act, 1995. It is also stated that respondents No. 2 & 3 are not only the Cadre Controlling Authority for IAS, but also have the duty of collating and authenticating the vacancy figures received from all the Cadre Controlling Authorities and then to submit the same to respondent No. 1.
10. Arguments advanced by learned counsel for the parties were heard when learned counsel for the applicant mainly pressed that since 34 vacancies had been shown as reserved for the Physically Handicapped categories, as per Notification issued for the Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2016, 1/3rd of this number should have come to the Blindness and Low Vision category. He also placed reliance on Apex Court judgement titled UOI and Anr. Vs. National Federation of the Blind and Ors., 2013(6) SLR 395 in this regard.
11. Learned counsel for the respondent No. 1 reiterated the content of the written statement filed on behalf of UPSC.
12. Learned counsel for respondents No. 2 & 3 stated that since for some cadres, the reservation was not available to some or all categories falling in the definition of Physically Handicapped, each Cadre Controlling Authority had to convey to the UPSC the number of vacancies reserved for those categories for which reservation was provided in the Cadre along with the total number of vacancies, reservation for SC/ST/OBC etc. On that basis, the UPSC issued the notification indicating the tentative number of vacancies for which the selection would be held. Each department/Cadre Controlling Authority was responsible for implementation of the provisions of Section 33 of the Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunity, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 in respect of the cadres managed by it. The DOPT could not by itself provide the detailed information for each cadre for which recruitment was being made through the Notification dated 27.04.2016 regarding the Civil Services Examination, 2016.
13. We have given our careful consideration to the matter. As per the impugned Notification dated 27.04.2016 (Annexure A-1), detailed information has been provided regarding eligibility for availing reservation against the vacancies reserved for the Physically Disabled persons as prescribed in the PWD Act, 1995. It is also seen that there are several services in which reservation for the persons with disabilities is not provided at all (IPS and other Police Services) or is provided to some categories of the physically handicapped, but not others. Hence, the Cadre Controlling Authorities have to submit their requests to the UPSC through the DOPT indicating clearly the categories for which reservation is being provided from amongst the physically handicapped and this information is collated along with the overall total number of vacancies to be filled, vacancies reserved for SC/ST/OBC and the Physically Handicapped, the sub-categories of the Visually Handicapped , Hearing Handicapped and Orthopaedically Handicapped.
14. The applicant through his OA, has not indicated whether he has doubts about the collation of vacancies in respect of any of the Departments/Cadre Controlling Authorities that would be recruiting officers through the Civil Services Examination, 2016. In the absence of such averment or such information being provided by the applicant, it is not feasible for the Tribunal to adjudicate on the validity of the claim of the applicant that for Blindness or Low Vision categories, the reservation of the posts should be 11 and not 7 as indicated in the impugned Notification dated 27.04.2016. Hence, we conclude that there is no merit in this OA and the same is rejected. No costs.
(RAJWANT SANDHU) MEMBER (A) (SANJEEV KAUSHIK) MEMBER (J) Dated: 21.12.2016.
ND* 1 O.A. 060/00561/2016