Seeking to draw the attention of the government to the case of two visually impaired persons, Ajit Kumar and Ashish Singh Thakur, who have not been inducted into the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) even after clearing the civil services examination, Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Brinda Karat sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Urges sympathy
In her letter to Dr. Singh, the CPI(M) leader enclosed a letter from the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled urging him to consider the issue sympathetically and undo the injustice to the two people.
“It is extremely unfortunate that two visually disabled persons have faced blatant discrimination at the hands of the insensitive authorities of the DoPT [Department of Personnel and Training], denying them IAS rank despite their eligibility. It is a shame that two persons who have succeeded after a hard personal struggle should be denied their due on grounds of their disability” Ms. Karat wrote in the letter.
In its letter, the Platform said in April this year it had submitted a memorandum highlighting some of the pressing problems being faced by differently-abled persons.
Drawing attention to the development with regard to these two, it said: “Non-induction of both these candidates into the IAS is not only a discrimination based on disability but also militates against the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.”
Direction unmet
The Platform said both aspirants were forced to approach the Central Administrative Tribunal, which, on October 8, 2010, directed the DoPT to induct them within eight weeks.
This direction has also not been complied with.
