BHUBANESWAR: Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) have expressed concern over the state government’s failure to implement the statutory four per cent reservation in promotion for employees with benchmark disabilities, as mandated by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016.
The Orissa Association for the Blind (OAB) said despite a clear and binding directive by the Orissa High Court on January 30, 2024, instructing the state government to act within three months on implementing the reservation, it remains unimplemented. “More than 15 months have passed, yet no steps have been taken to implement the order,” Prashant Kumar Dash, general secretary of OAB, alleged.
The PwDs held the SSEPD department accountable for the inaction, citing repeated instances of misrepresentation and administrative obstruction on key disability rights issues, particularly in implementing reservation in promotions and direct recruitment. Even a grievance was filed with the Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell in this regard but there has been no response, Dash added.
The association members demanded a time-bound inquiry by the chief secretary into the issue along with immediate implementation of 4 pc reservation in promotions and direct recruitment for PwD employees, and disciplinary action against those responsible for the continued denial of rights to them.