The Tamil Nadu government has increased the reservation for differently abled persons in government vacancies to 4% from the existing 3%, in line with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced here on Tuesday.
The 4% reservation for differently abled would apply to all State public service enterprises, public sector undertakings, boards, corporations, educational institutions, local bodies, and government-aided institutions across the State, Mr. Palaniswami said.
As per Section 34 (1) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, every government shall appoint in every government establishment, not less than 4% of the total number of vacancies in the cadre strength in each group of posts meant to be filled with persons with benchmark disabilities.
While blindness and low vision, deaf and hard of hearing categories would have 1% of reservation in each of the categories, locomotor disability, including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy would have 1% reservation.
Autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability, mental illness and multiple disabilities would have 1% reservation, says a G.O.
The State government’s decision follows the proposal sent by the State Commissioner for the Differently-Abled to increase the reservation for the category after the Centre notified the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, in April this year.
‘Clear backlogs’
Hailing the move, former Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss urged the government to clear the backlog of vacancies [under the quota system] soon.
S. Namburajan, State Secretary of Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently-Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC), has welcomed the State government’s announcement.
