The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Centre to respond to a petition seeking quashing of notice for this year’s civil service examination on the ground that not enough seats have been reserved for those with visual and multiple disabilities.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan also issued notice to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on the allegation made by a disability rights organisation that seats have not been reserved in accordance with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act of 2016.
Evara Foundation, in its plea filed through advocate Kamlesh Kumar Misra, also sought to stay the declaration of the results for the preliminary examination.
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The court declined the plea, saying the UPSC will be asked to recompute its result if the final order goes in their favour.
The High Court is also seized of a similar petition by another organisation, Sambhavana, a registered society of the disabled for the disabled, claiming that UPSC has reserved only 24 vacancies for persons with disabilities out of a total of 796 “expected approximate vacancies”.
Sambhavana said this was below the 4% mandatory reservation under Section 34 of the RPWD Act.
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On Friday, the court declined Sambhavana’s plea seeking early hearing of its petition noting that the civil services main examination was scheduled to commence from January and the next date of hearing in their case was in November.
Evara Foundation, in its plea, has contended that due to inadequate number of advertised vacancies for visually impaired and those with multiple disabilities, fewer candidates belonging to these two categories will qualify for the main examination.
It also contended that the number of seats reserved for visually impaired, people who are deaf and hard of hearing or with locomotor disabilities is not in accordance with the RPWD Act.