Chhattisgarh high court dismisses plea for visually impaired reservation in assistant professor recruitment
RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by a 27-year-old visually impaired candidate, who sought a 2% reservation for blind and low vision persons in the recruitment of Assistant Professors (Commerce).
The court upheld the state govt's decision to deny such reservation in this specific subject, citing the nature of teaching duties involved and the reservation already granted to other disability categories.
Saroj Kshemanidhi, 27, appeared for the 2019 Assistant Professor (Commerce) recruitment conducted by the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (CGPSC). Though he cleared the written examination and was called for the interview, he did not make it to the final selection list.
He then filed a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, seeking a directive to the CGPSC to issue a corrigendum ensuring a 2% reservation for visually impaired candidates, covering both current and backlog vacancies. He also requested the court to stop the CGPSC from filling these vacancies until the matter was resolved.
The CGPSC argued that it functioned solely as an examining body and not as a policymaker.
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It stated that the petitioner applied knowing there was no reservation for the visually impaired in the Commerce subject and could not challenge the process midway. The Commission also pointed out that identifying suitable posts for reservation falls under the domain of the state govt.
The State of Chhattisgarh, the second respondent in the case, submitted that the reservation pattern followed in the 2019 recruitment advertisement was in accordance with a govt circular dated 29 August 2018. They further noted that the High Court earlier directed the authorities to reallocate reservation in compliance with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016, and subsequent
Supreme Court
rulings.
As a result, corrigenda were issued in November 2019 and January 2021 adjusting reservation across various subjects, including Commerce.
The state clarified that the Assistant Professor post is part of a larger cadre, and reservations are applied at the cadre level, not by individual subject. It further argued that Kshemanidhi's petition resembled a Public Interest Litigation and was not maintainable as he accepted the terms of recruitment without objection.
Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Vijay K Deshmukh contended that denying reservation to the visually impaired in the Commerce subject violated Article 16(1) of the Constitution. He cited previous recruitment rounds where such reservation was granted.
Justice
Narendra
Kumar Vyas framed the core question: whether the state was obligated to provide a 2% reservation for blind and low vision candidates in Commerce, despite already allotting reservation to other disability categories under the same recruitment.
Citing Sections 33 and 34 of the RPWD Act, the court observed that while 4% of total vacancies must be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities, the identification of suitable posts is the prerogative of the appointing authority. Given the writing-intensive nature of Commerce teaching, the court found the state justified in limiting reservation to candidates with disabilities such as OA (one arm) and OL (one leg).
The court ruled that the state's action was neither arbitrary nor illegal and declined to issue a writ directing the inclusion of visually impaired candidates in the reservation. The petition was dismissed, and the interim stay on appointment was vacated. The state has been directed to issue the pending appointment order within 60 days.
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