High Court · 2025

Mr. B.S. Kat hayat , Mr. Mr. Vinay Kum ar and Mr. M.S. Bhandari, Advocat e for t he pet it ioners.

2. Mr. Narayan Dut t , St anding Counsel for t he St at e of Ut t arakhand.

3. Mr. Pankaj Miglani and Ms. Menka Tripat hi, t he Ut t arakhand Public Service Advocat es Com m ission. Since com m on quest ions of fact and law are 4. involved t hese pet it ions are clubbed t oget her and decided by t his com m on j udgm ent . t hese pet it ions, t herefore,

5. Pet it ioners are physically disabled persons, who suffer locom ot or disabilit y. They part icipat ed in a select ion for t he post of Junior Engineer ( Civil) held by Ut t arakhand Public Service Com m ission. As m any as 1097 vacancies on t he post s of Junior Engineers were not ified, vide advert isem ent dat ed 14.10.2023, out of which 210 were in Public Works Depart m ent . Out for Public Works of 210 vacancies not ified Depart m ent , 20 were reserved for persons wit h disabilit ies.

6. Pet it ioners claim ed reservat ion available t o physically disabled persons; however, benefit of reservat ion was not given t o t hem , even t hough no one was select ed against 7 vacancies reserved for persons wit h disabilit ies and t hese vacancies were report edly carried forward on t he ground t hat no candidat e in part ially deaf cat egory was available. Pet it ioners rely upon Sect ion 34( 2) of t he Right s of Persons wit h Disabilit ies Act , 2016, which reads as under: - “ 34 ( 2) Wher e in any r ecruit m ent year any vacancy cannot be filled up due t o non- availabilit y of a suit able per son wit h benchm ark disabilit y or for any ot her sufficient reasons, such vacancy shall be carried forward in t he succeeding recruit m ent year and if in t he succeeding recruit m ent year also suit able person wit h benchm ark disabilit y is not available, it m ay first be filled by int erchange am ong t he five cat egories and only when t here is no per son wit h disabilit y available for t he post in t hat year, t he em ployer shall fill up t he vacancy by appoint m ent of a per son, ot her t han a person wit h disabilit y: Provided t hat if t he nat ure of vacancies in an est ablishm ent is such t hat a given cat egory of per son cannot be em ployed, t he vacancies m ay be int er changed am ong t he five cat egories wit h t he prior appr oval of t he appropriat e Governm ent .” By rely ing upon t he said provision, learned 7. counsel for t he pet it ioner cont ended t hat t he vacancies earm arked for part ially deaf candidat es were earlier advert ised on 27.4.2015 and result of t he said select ion was published on 10.01.2018; since all vacancies reserved for part ially deaf for want of suit able could not be supplied candidat es, t herefore, 7 vacancies available for part ially deaf candidat es were carried forward for t he next select ion. Thus, it is cont ended t hat t he 7 vacancies, which have again been carried forward, are t he vacancies, which were carried forward in t he last select ion, init iat ed in 2015, t herefore, t hese vacancies cannot be carried forward in view of provision cont ained in Sect ion 34( 2) of t he Act .

8. Mr. Pankaj Miglani and Ms. Menka Tripat hi, learned counsels appearing for Ut t arakhand Public Service Com m ission subm it t hat t he requisit ion sent by t he Governm ent t o t he Com m ission is silent as t o whet her t he aforesaid 7 vacancies, reserved for part ially deaf, are t he carried forward vacancies or t hey are fresh vacancies. I t is furt her cont ended t hat t here was no indicat ion in t he requisit ion t hat t he post s reserved for a part icular disabilit y, if rem aining vacant , can be supplied by candidat es suffering from ot her kind of disabilit y, t herefore, Public Service Com m ission had no opt ion, but t he vacancies t o carry reserved for part ially deaf candidat es. forward Learned St at e Counsel subm it s t hat if Public 9. Service Com m ission had any doubt in t he m at t er, it could have sought clarificat ion t he em ployer.

10. Learned St at e Counsel was asked t o get inst ruct ions as t o whet her post of Junior Engineer ( Civil) in Public Works Depart m ent is ident ified under Sect ion 33 of Right s of Persons wit h Disabilit ies Act , 2016, for a person wit h locom ot or disabilit y. Today, on inst ruct ions, he subm it s t hat t he post of Junior Engineer, appoint ing a person wit h locom ot or disabilit y as well. Thus, appoint ing pet it ioners as Junior Engineer ( Civil) in Public Works Depart m ent . im pedim ent ident ified is no t here in Sect ion 34( 2) of

11. Having regard t o t he st at ut ory schem e as cont ained t he Right s of Persons wit h Disabilit ies Act , 2016, t his Court t hinks t hat ends of j ust ice would be m et , if pet it ioners m ake represent at ion( s) t o t he Secret ary, Ut t arakhand Public Service Com m ission. perm it t ed t o t o libert y pet it ioners t hereupon shall be

12. The writ pet it ions are, accordingly, disposed of wit h t o m ake represent at ion( s) t o t he Secret ary, Ut t arakhand Public Service Com m ission. I f t hey m ake such represent at ion( s) wit hin t wo weeks from t oday, decision t he Secret ary of t he Com m ission, wit hin six weeks t he t hereaft er. The t he St at e Com m ission Governm ent , t he Secret ary, Public Works Depart m ent , wit hin t hree weeks from t he dat e of receipt of such request . Till decision is t aken in t he m at t er, 7 vacancies reserved for physically challenged persons, shall not be filled. t o considered if m ade by t aken by approval, request ,

19.11.2025 ( M a n o j K u m a r Ti w a r i , J.) Navin NAVEEN CHANDRA DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, 2.5.4.20=3be23325146e76a0642bdf4943fb9046f4 87df006da82a131bb4e4403d3c0a15, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND, serialNumber=18167EEFB5CA8CFFD421A103819 DA875643AF56D653D095C6ED9A86DAAB21CE5, cn=NAVEEN CHANDRA