Dear Colleagues,
A single bench of Gujarat High Court has asked the State Govt. to appoint a man with cerebral palsy on the post of Supervisor
Instructor Class III in the ITIs. Quoting from the official video of the "सुगम्य भारत अभियान” i.e. "Accessible India Campaign" a campaign of the Department of Empowerment of persons with disabilities says, “हक़ है बराबरी का, गर्व से जियेंगे ! ” i.e. to say “We have right to equality and we have right to live with honour and dignity”, the court said, "This is one such
case where a person, since has been refused such
a right to equality and to lead the life with dignity
and with self empowerment, has approached this
Court invoking powers under Articles 14, 16 and 226 of Constitution of India.
The petitioner Sudhanshu Upendrabhai Chavda, a person with cerebral palsy (spastic quadriplegia) came to be selected in the process of
recruitment on his own merit for the post of Supervisor Inspector(Class III). However, in a meeting between the petitioner and the
members of Selection Committee, it was realized
that the petitioner was not able to speak and write
properly. Therefore, he was not found eligible for
the said post on the ground that the post of
technical supervisor requires a person to speak
clearly/properly and make the subject to be
understand well by the trainees.
Petitioner argued that not granting appointment to the petitioner defeats the
very objective of the Persons with Disabilities [Equal opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation] Act, 1995 [“Disabilities Act”
hereinafter]. It was urged that the court needed
to once speak to the petitioner and also keep in
mind the decision of the Apex Court rendered in
case of Saiyed Bashir -ud-din Qadri Vs. Nazir
Ahmed Shah and Ors. in SLP(C) Nos. 10669-70
of 2008 which according to the petitioner was also a story of a
person who had a struggle to be self dependent.
The Court after meeting the petitioner in person, found a very favourable impression
and on realising the fact that his mental faculty was
not in any manner affected despite his condition of
cerebral palsy with spastic quadriplegia, requested
the learned Government Pleader to take up the
matter with the highest authority after once having
a personal talk with him.
The Govt. pleader accordingly had personal interview with
the petitoner and having been convinced thereafter she chose to write to the Principal
Secretary, Labour and Employment Department
pursuant to the suggestions of the Court. The govt. pleader wrote:
“Upon the direction issued by the
Hon'ble Court in the presence of the officers, I
have personally also spoken to the petitioner. It
appears that on account of cerebral palsy he is
suffering from only Locomotor Disability and
any other work in the nature of date entry,
assessment of papers, preparation of training
material etc. may be given to him. In any case
the Hon'ble Court has directed the undersigned
to speak to the highest authority in the
department to find a way out. These are people
who have struggled all their lives to achieve
degrees and qualification against all odds. They
all need to be encouraged. They merely need a
government job. Having over come his physical
disability, he has attained a Master in
Computer Application (M.C.A) degree. The
Hon'ble Court has directed that the State ought to consider this and take a sympathetic
approach towards him and appoint him on
some post in an ITI Institute, which would not
be involving communication or speech skills.”
Accordingly, the department agreed to appoint him pursuant to the above communication. The court however, ordered that the petitioner shall be
given the appointment order as mentioned
hereinabove. If not granted within the stipulated
time period, the petitioner shall be at liberty to
approach this Court.
Rarely we find such instances where Courts take such interest to support the cause of people with disabilities. We have seen how cases are heard & disposed off mechanically. This deserves mention that in this case, not only the candidate was able, highly educated and full of confidence but the advocate representing the petitioner, judge and the govt. pleader - all worked in tandem to grant the petitioner relief.
Judgement
To read the PDF judgement dated 28.12.2016 in Special Civil Application No. 17799 of 2016 titled Sudhanshu Upendrabhai Chavda Vs. State of Gujarat & Ors., click here.