CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday issued a fresh direction to the state government to file a reply to a PIL on the alleged denial of promotion in service to persons with disabilities (PwDs).
The petition, filed by the general secretary of Orissa Association for the Blind, Sarat Kumar Dash, had cited the cases of 23 PwDs who were denied promotion as the state government had not provided reservations for them. The PwDs were assistant section officers at Odisha Lok Seva Bhawan and were appointed under the PwD quota in 2016. They were due for promotion on July 20, 2022.
The court had directed the state government to file a reply within eight weeks on December 14, 2022 and fixed the matter for hearing on April 24. A notice was issued to commissioner-cum-secretary, Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities department to file a reply.
However, when the matter came up for hearing on Monday, the petitioner's counsel was not present and the state counsel stated he was yet to be provided a copy of the petition. The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Gourishankar Satapathy said, “In the interest of justice let the petition be listed on July 5. Copy of the writ petition be served to the state counsel and defects be removed.”