City Government recruiting few disabled

By Bhadra sinha,

Times New Network

NEW DELHI: Disabled people are the least sought after candidates for government jobs. This is despite the Disability Act 1995 which states that three per cent of government jobs should be reserved for them. In an affidavit filed in the Delhi high court, the state government has given a list of posts being held by physically disabled employees. The affidavit was submitted in response to the high court’s query while hearing a public interest litigation complaining about the government’s apathetic attitude to the disabled.

Of the total number of Delhi government posts, 27,040 are sanctioned for the physically disabled. The figure includes state government departments and autonomous bodies.

Only 299 of the sanctioned posts have been identified as suitable for the handicapped. However, the government has managed to give jobs to only 56. Advocate Sugreev Dubey, who filed the PIL on behalf of the Delhi Students Council for the Blind, said: “Although the government has sanctioned posts in all its departments it has a category called ‘reservation not allowed’. They give the excuse that since there is no reservation in a particular department, it is unable to recruit disabled people there.” The high court bench has, however, directed the social welfare secretary to explain where the government can give a complete three per cent employment to the physically disabled including blind people.

The social welfare secretary has been directed to appear before the court on January 1, 2002 to submit a detailed affidavit.

M K Mishra, secretary of the Delhi government social welfare department, said: “There is a three per cent reservation in all the departments. It is up to these departments to identify the posts and recruit the disabled.”

Criticising the Delhi government’s indifference, disabled activist Javed Abidi said: “The sanctioning of posts and identification was done in 1986. The government has not reviewed the same for the last 15 years.” Abidi also complained about the government’s process for identifying such posts.

“It is highly contentious. So far we have not understood how they do it,” Abidi said. According to him, there is a clause in the Act which states that certain institutions can be exempted from employing the disabled. “But those institutions and posts should include army or pilots for airlines company,” Abidi explained.

Another facet of the government’s apathy is evident from the low employment opportunities which it has given to the physically disabled in the first class categories. Among class I officers, the government has identified only 28 posts, while in the group “C” and “D” categories it has identified 264 posts.

Bitter PIL

The PIL complaining about the lack of opportunities in government offices was filed in 1998 on behalf of the Delhi Students Council for the Blind. The PIL stated that if the government has identified jobs for the disabled, it should recruit them also. The PIL was filed three years after the Disability Act was introduced.

Source: Times News Network
Dated :18th December 2001