A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the State government to issue a fresh G.O. by incorporating the statutory three per cent reservation for the disabled in recruitment for the Nutritious Meal Programme (NMP) and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme.
The Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All types of Differently Abled and Care givers (TARATDAC), represented by its State secretary S. Namburajan, stated that the government recently announced that would fill nearly 28,500 NMP vacancies in Tamil Nadu. The vacancies include posts of noon-meal organiser, cook and helper under the NMP and worker and helper in the ICDS Scheme.
The G.O. of August 18, 2010 issued by the Social Welfare and NMP Department regarding the recruitment was issued in violation of The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act.
There was no provision for the mandatory reservation of three per cent for persons with disability as per the Act. The G.O. was violative of the statutory law enacted for the benefit and protection of the rights of the disabled. Hence, the present petition.
The association prayed the court to quash the G.O. of August 18, 2010 and consequently direct the authorities to issue a fresh G.O. by incorporating the statutory reservation for persons with disability.
The matter came up before the First Bench of Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam on Tuesday.
It was adjourned by two weeks.
