COIMBATORE: The National Federation of the Blind’s Tamil Nadu branch has strongly opposed the government’s decision to declare GO 151 and GO 20, both related to service condition of disabled in govt jobs, as inoperable or redundant. A new GO No.24 issued on October 31, which offered weightage marks in recruitment exams to persons with benchmark disabilities (PwBDs) working temporarily in non-sanctioned Group C and D posts, had scrapped the two earlier orders. “The government should withdraw the new order and implement the two previous GOs,” the federation said.
GO No.24 allows eligible PwBDs to earn additional marks in recruitment exams conducted for the next three years for posts in government departments, local bodies, universities, and public sector undertakings. The weightage will be based on years of service. While candidates with 2 to 10 years of service will get 5% marks as additional weightage score, those with 11-15 years will get 8%, and those with over 16 years of experience will get 10% marks with a cap of 30 maximum marks.
These marks will be added while finalising merit lists in written or non-written recruitment processes, the order said. To qualify, candidates must be persons with benchmark disabilities working on consolidated pay, daily wages, or other non-permanent arrangements, and must have completed at least two years of continuous service as on July 24, 2023 and must be still in service. Those completing two years after the cut-off date will not be considered, the order said, specifically rendering, GO 151, which ensured that differently-abled government employees with over two years of consolidated pay service should be regularised onto a time-scale pay, and GO 20, which mandated a special recruitment drive for PwBDs, ineffective.
P Manoharan, Project Director of the National Federation of the Blind, in a press conference on Saturday said, “We have been demanding the government to regularise the posts that were filled since 2008 based on GO 151, as per the same order. Instead, the government has made a decision to recruit using weightage marks without confirming the people recruited previously. PwBDs currently working in sanctioned posts on consolidated pay will lose their only way to regularisation. ”