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W.P(C).No.21117 Of 2016
conclusions, without any proper assessment and merely on the ground
that the petitioner happens to be a physically disabled candidate.
Therefore, in any view of the matter, the conclusion arrived at in
Ext.P-10 appears to be tainted with serious unfairness and impropriety.
Further it is stated that the selection committee was of the opinion that
the petitioner will not be able to properly carry out the setting of
question papers confidentially, etc. It is further opined therein that the
petitioner will not be able to properly discharge the duties of
conducting examinations, class tests and evaluation of answer sheets
because of her visual disability. Further it is stated that the selection
committee is of the view that the petitioner will not be able to do justice
to the rigorous academic requirements of a research oriented Masters
Degree Programme and that the petitioner will not be able to properly
carry out the responsibility involved in the design of course curriculum
and updation from time to time, etc. The predominant aspect that
emanating from Ext.P-10 is that the selection committee has arrived at
a decision that the petitioner is not suitable for appointment as Assistant
Professor in Law as she happened to be suffering from physical
disability. It is not in dispute that the State Government in exercise of
the statutory powers under the Central Act, 1996, has issued Ext.P-11
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W.P(C).No.21117 Of 2016
Government Order whereby the post of Lecturer/Assistant Professor in
Law has been notified as one which is suitable for appointment from
amongst visually disabled candidates (visually disabled, locomotive
disability, cerebral palsy). So, the substantial question involved in this
case is as to whether the selection authority like the respondent
University can assess whether physically disabled candidates are
suitable for discharge of duties and functions of the post in spite of
Ext.P-11 notification? The issue in this regard is substantially covered
against the University by a Division Bench of the Kerala Administrative
Tribunal in O.A.No.2440/2012 in the case Bijoy M.S. v. Kerala Public
Service Commission, Trivandrum and Others reported in 2014 KHC 370
as well as by the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in the
case Secretary, Kerala Public Service Commission, Trivandrum v. Seema.I.
and Ors. reported in 2014 (4) ILR (KER) 773. The Division Bench of the
Tribunal in the aforementioned ruling reported in 2014 KHC 370
(para.14), dealt with a case where the Public Service Commission
contended that even if the post is identified as suitable by the State
Government as per Sec.32 of the above Central Act, the Commission, as
the selecting authority, is fully within its power to assess the issue as to
whether the physically disabled candidate is suitable in the matter of
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W.P(C).No.21117 Of 2016
and that the said provision was in force even long before the last date of
submission of the application in question and that the petitioner is
entitled to succeed, in her challenge in the previous round of litigation
as regards the rejection of her candidature. It is thereafter that the
matter was remitted to the University for consideration for the selection
of the petitioner to the post of Assistant Professor in Law afresh. It is
not in dispute that the post was notified as reserved for physically
disabled candidates. It is also not in dispute that the petitioner was the
sole candidate who was eligible for the said selection. It is also not in
dispute that the State Government has issued the statutory notification
wherein the post of Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Law is notified to be
suitable for appointment of physically disabled candidates including
visually disabled candidates by virtue of the provisions contained in
Sec.32 of the Central Act. Yet, the selection authority as per the
impugned Ext.P-10 proceedings has rejected the petitioner's
candidature on the ground that she, being a visually handicapped
person, is not suitable to perform the duties and responsibilities of
Assistant Professor in Law. The University Grants Commission, which
has been established by virtue of the Legislative Competence of the
Parliament referable to co-ordination and determination of standards in
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W.P(C).No.21117 Of 2016
the higher education sector has chosen to prescribe a very tough and
difficult test, viz, National Eligibility Test as the bench mark for teaching
position in Colleges and Universities. The petitioner, who is a visually
handicapped candidate, has succeeded in passing that tough and
arduous test as evident from Ext.P-2(a), and the State Government
themselves as per Ext.P-11 Government Order have identified the post
in question as suitable to be manned by visually disabled candidates. So
this Court fails to understand the rationale and logic of the impugned
rejection of the candidature of the petitioner on the grounds stated
therein. It is all the more so, in the light of the ratio decidendi laid
down settled by the Division Bench of the Tribunal as well as the
Division Bench of this Court as referred to herein above. The respondent
University does not have any case that the petitioner is not having the
requisite merit to hold the post and that therefore she is not suitable, etc.
On the other hand, the respondents, without even properly assessing the
suitability of the petitioner on the basis of transparent and objective
merit criteria to hold the post, have taken the unreasonable stand that
she is not suitable to discharge the functions and duties of the post as
she is visually disabled. The said stand reflected in Ext.P-10 rejection
order is clearly illegal, unreasonable and improper, going by the above
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