CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has directed the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) to give appointment to a person who had applied for the civil service examination-2017 in PwD category, in an unreserved post of Odisha Administrative Service, Group A (Junior Branch), within two months.“If so required, an extra post be created,” the high court said in a recent judgement in the case of Anushrav Gantayat.
Gantayat had qualified for the OCS preliminary and mains examination and appeared for the personality test in 2018 but the OPSC had rejected his candidature on the ground that his percentage of disability was 40 pc.
The court further directed the state government to pay Gantayat compensation of Rs 1 lakh within two months citing he was deprived of his legitimate rights accruing out of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, so also Article 16 of the Constitution of India, causing hardship and loss to him as a disabled person.
Gantayat had challenged the list of selected candidates in which OPSC had notified names of 106 candidates on December 19, 2019, as his name did not figure in it even though he secured more marks than the last candidate selected under unreserved male as well as Physically Handicapped (Visually Impaired) category.
The OPSC had rejected his candidature citing the Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disability (SSEPD) department’s September 5, 2017 resolution stipulated that persons with more than 40 per cent disability are eligible for benefits.
The court found that the resolution was contrary to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 which states to give benefits to persons having not less than 40 pc disability. “The state so also OPSC have committed grave illegality by denying appointment to the petitioner solely on the ground that his percentage of disability was 40% and not more than 40%,” the single judge bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra ruled adding, “The appointment of the petitioner shall be made effective from the date similarly placed person (s) in the select/merit list were appointed in 2018.”