MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday stayed a portion of a G.O. issued by the Department of Social Welfare, Nutrition and Women’s Rights, which restricted persons with disabilities (PwD) from being appointed as cooking assistants.
A bench comprising Justices M S Ramesh and A D Maria Clete passed the interim order on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by S Vimal Nathan of Thanjavur.
The petitioner submitted that on December 16, 2024, the social welfare department passed the aforementioned G.O. for recruiting 8,997 cooking assistants to support the school noon meal scheme.
The order explicitly stated that persons with disabilities are restrained from being appointed as cooking assistants in the scheme, he claimed.
Stating that this violates the right to equal opportunities guaranteed to persons with disabilities, he requested the court to quash it and provide 4% reservation mandated under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 in government job recruitment.
Hearing the plea, the judges ordered an interim stay on the G.O. so far as the exclusion of persons with disabilities alone was concerned, to enable them to participate in the recruitment. The case was adjourned for further hearing.