The
Supreme Court today held that three per cent reservation for differently-abled
persons be given in all category of government jobs including in appointments
and promotions to IAS while pulling up the Centre for "frustrating"
the very purpose of empowering legislation by opposing it.
A bench
headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha said the disabled persons have not got their
due in the last 19 years after framing of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal
Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, which was
passed in 1995.
Additional
Solicitor General Pinky Anand, appearing for the Centre, contended that
reservation cannot be given in case of promotion to Group A and Group B
officers category as it is not a case of appointment.
The
bench, however, observed that appointment is a broader concept and the Centre
is giving a narrow interpretation of it.
"You
are frustating the very reservation policy and cause of class for which
Parliament passed the law," the bench said.
"For
the last 19 years it is not being implemented and the class, for which the
legislation was made, had not got benefited as it should have," the bench
said.
The court
dismissed the petition of Centre challenging order of Bombay High Court
which had directed the Centre and the Union Public Service Commission to
implement a 3 per cent quota in direct recruitments and promotions for the
disabled in the IAS.
Source : The Economic Times
