Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

14. In addition, Ms. Gupta stated that the petitioner did not clear the first round i.e., CBT wherein a total of 460 candidates were shortlisted who obtained the minimum cutoff as required. In the CBT round, the petitioner scored 116.5/200 marks in the UR category which was far below the cutoff of the SC, ST, and OBC category being 156.25/200, 155/200, 165/200 respectively. Consequently, two PwD candidates cleared the first CBT round and appeared in the Skill Test. However, the said candidates did not qualify for the Skill Test and accordingly, the reserved seats for the PwD category were carried forward in compliance with Clause 8 of the OM dated January 15, 2018, issued by DoPT, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, with respect to the reservation for the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, which stipulates that in case any vacancy cannot be filled up due to non- availability of a suitable person with benchmark disability or for any other sufficient reason, such vacancy shall be carried forward in the succeeding recruitment year.

15. Further, it was submitted by Ms.Gupta that in so far as the relief of declaring the cut off list of PwD candidates is concerned, the same is untenable in law in as much as the SC, ST and OBC are vertical reservation and benchmark disabilities come under horizontal reservations which cut across the vertical reservations. In other words, a person selected against the quota for persons with benchmark disabilities has to be placed in the appropriate category viz. SC / ST / OBC / UR according to the category to which they belong. Since the person with the benchmark disabilities has to be placed in the appropriate category SC / ST / OBC / UR in the roster meant for reservation, the application form for the post would require candidates applying under the quota with benchmark disabilities to indicate whether they belong to SC / ST / OBC / UR category. As the persons with benchmark disabilities have to apply with reference to the quota reserved for vertical reservation SC / ST / OBC / UR, their cut-off marks were also linked to the category to which they belong. Thus, there are no separate cut-off marks or a separate category of short-listed candidates of the preliminary test i.e., CBT for the PwD category. The cutoff marks for each vertical category of SC / ST / OBC / UR were duly notified by the respondent on January 19, 2021, i.e., after the conduct of the CBT and on December 04, 2020, the final list of selected candidates was duly issued.

iv) Multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (i) to (iii) including deaf-blindness.

The four (4) vacancies are spread out across the available vacancies as per the 100-point roster chart at points 26, 51, 76 & 101. These have been carried forward from the Recruitment drive held on 2020. In case of non availability of suitable person with that benchmark disability or for any other reason, such vacancy shall be carried forward as backlog reserved vacancy to the subsequent year as per Government instructions. [ Since the persons with benchmark disabilities have to be placed in the appropriate category viz. SC/ST/OBC/UR in the roster meant of reservation while filling the application form for the post(s), all applicants applying in this category are required to indicate whether they belong to SC/ST/OBC/UR as the case may be................................

"4.2. Persons with benchmark disabilities selected without relaxed standards along with other candidates, will not be adjusted against the reserved share of vacancies. The reserved vacancies will be filed up separately from amongst the eligible candidates with benchmark disabilities which will thus comprise of candidates with benchmark disabilities who are lower in merit than the last candidate in merit list but otherwise found suitable for appointment, if necessary, by relaxed standards."