3% reservation is to be in an establishment and not in all cadres of an establishment

 The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the 3% reservation is to be in an establishment and not in all cadres of an establishment irrespective of the nature of the job. The 3% reservation has to be provided in an establishment and not in every cadre

The bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Vikram Nath observed that the State Government has taken a conscious decision to reserve certain posts for hearing impaired candidates and not for candidates with locomotor disabilities.

In this case, an advertisement was published inviting applications for posts of safaikarmis. There were 50 posts reserved for disabled candidates. However, such 50 posts were said to be on the basis of 3% of the total posts advertised and not as per the reservation policy of appointment of the disabled candidates in the State.

It is the case of the appellants that they participated in the cycle test and also appeared for interview but were not appointed, which led them to file writ petition before the High Court in the year 2018.

The High Court held that “under the Act, there are other forms of disabilities in addition to the hearing impairment. Thus, all categories of disabled persons were found entitled to avail reservation up to 3 per cent, of which one per cent each is available for disabled candidates suffering from (i) blindness or low vision, (ii) hearing impairment, and (iii) locomotor disability or cerebral palsy.”

In respect of disabled candidates, the State Government had circulated a G.O. dated 07.05.1999 identifying the posts which can be manned by such suitable disabled candidates under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.

The issue before the Supreme Court was:

Whether the order passed by the High Court striking the G.O. dated 07.05.1999 was valid or not?

Supreme Court after reading the impugned judgment of the High Court observed that 3% posts in each cadre dehors the identification of the posts are to be reserved for persons with disability, with blindness or low vision, hearing impairment and locomotor disability.