CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered chief secretary of the UT to frame a standard operating procedure within two months to sensitise all the departments to deal with persons with disability.
The order was issued by the first division bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava (since retired) and Justice G Arul Murugan on Friday while allowing a petition filed by E Hariharan, a native of Puducherry but currently staying at a village in Mayiladuthurai district.
The court observed that more than anything else, a person with disability is legitimate in his expectation that in all walks of life and interaction in the society, he would be treated equally; without discrimination and attitudinal barriers; and with sensitivity.
The petitioner prayed for the court seeking directions to the Revenue authorities to issue him nativity certificate and the Electricity Department to appoint him to the post of junior engineer.
The Revenue authorities had denied him the nativity certificate stating he was currently staying outside the Union Territory, while the Electricity Department declared him not suitable for the job on the grounds of the medical board report on July 25, 2025.
The petitioner had graduated in electrical and electronics engineering and served at a private company for four years. He applied for the post of junior engineer with the Electricity Department of the Union Territory. He cleared the qualifying examination with 65.50 marks.
Referring to the grounds for denial of nativity certificate that the petitioner, for some time, was residing near his sister’s residence in Mayiladuthurai district, the bench said, “This finding of the respondents is not only perverse, mechanical and arbitrary, but lacks sensitivity while dealing with an application of a person suffering from disability.”
Pointing to the denial of job by the Electricity Department, it noted that the petitioner was not examined by the medical board in concordance with the spirit of the constitutional mandate and the scheme of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.
The court ordered the authorities to issue the petitioner nativity certificate immediately and constitute a fresh medical board, with one Electricity Department officer acquainted with the nature of duties and functions of junior engineer, to assess the disability of the petitioner. It held that the petitioner, having secured high marks, will be entitled to appointment in the existing vacancy once he is cleared by the medical board, and ordered the respondents to pay him costs of Rs 50,000 in a month.