CHENNAI: More than a year after Tamil Nadu government, acting as per a high court order as well as recommendation of a high power committee of the court, disqualified blind/deaf persons from becoming district judges or munsifs/magistrates, a PIL has challenged the decision.
A practising advocate, who became blind at the age of 12, has moved the high court saying the August 31, 2012 order of the state home department exempting the posts of district judge (entry level) and civil judge in the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service from the provisions of Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Right and Full Participation) Act, 1995 denied 2% reservation meant for blind and deaf candidates. His counsel Abdul Qudhose told the bench that in April 2009, while passing an order on a case relating to the appointment of subordinate judges, the high court had recommended to the state government to issue a notification exempting complete blindness and complete hearing impairment from the post of judge as "they were not competent to be judges." Thereafter, a high power committee of the high court forwarded a recommendation to the state government, which then issued the impugned order. Pointing out that at present 3% reservation is available to the disabled in a ratio of 1% each for blind, deaf and the orthopaedically challenged candidates, Qudhose said reservation for the blind is a measure of social justice incorporated in the relevant rules in 2007. In his petition, Nasarullah said that he himself wrote examination for the selection of civil judges (junior division) and district judge (entry level), but was not selected as he could not score the cut-off marks. After the high court authorities permitted the blind/deaf candidates to participate in the written examination, it is not open to the home secretary to take away the reservation benefits on the ground that they were not competent to be judges. The impugned GO seeks to introduce additional disqualification which can be prescribed only by the Constitution or the relevant rules, Nasarullah said, adding that the authorities are entitled to adopt irrational and unscientific criteria and exclude the blind/deaf from reservation. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Blind/deaf-cant-be-judges-say-govt-and-HC-PIL-questions-it/articleshow/25069979.cms Vikas Kapoor, Mobile: (+91) 9891098137 Skype Id: dl_vikas Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
