Complete transparency in recruitment of people with disabilities: Railway Ministry

The Railway Ministry has clarified that recruitment process for Disabled persons ('Divyangjan') is not only transparent and fair but also in accordance with statutory provisions and the law of the land.

The statement came in the backdrop of 'Divyangjan' staging a protest at Mandi House here regarding some issues for Level-1 jobs in the Railways for them.

A centralized notification for around 63000 Level-1 vacancies for all Railway zones across Indian Railways was issued in Februray2018 by Railway Recruitment Boards.

"At the outset, on this sensitive matter, it is categorically stated that insofar as Divyangjan candidates are concerned, Railways have ensured that notification of the required number of reserved vacancies, conduct of the entire recruitment exercise, and filling up of posts meant for Divyangjan have been not only transparent and fair but also in accordance with statutory provisions and the law of the land in this regard," said a statement from the Railway Ministry.

"There was a total of about 1.87 crore applicants. Written Exams (Computer-based 100 per cent objective in 15 languages) were conducted in the latter part of 2018. Around 1,55,000 (1.55 lakhs) disabled candidates took the exam for around 2400 posts notified as reserved for such candidates. All prescribed facilities such as scribes, extra time, careful seating arrangements etc. were arranged for Disabled candidates," read the statement.

"Minimum qualifying/cut-off threshold scores that were 40 for General candidates and 30 for SC/ST/OBC candidates were relaxed by 2 marks to 38 and 28 respectively for Disabled candidates. Around 34000 Disabled candidates scored above this threshold qualifying limit. Based on the number of vacancies and their merit position in the particular Disability category in that Railway, the commensurate number of qualified candidates were called for Document Verification and medical examination, prior to being offered appointment," it read.

"So far, around 1025 Disabled candidates have already been selected for appointment. As authenticity of certificates and determining of medical status is taking additional time in the case of some Disabled candidates, this number of 1025 will go up in the coming weeks," read the statement from Ministry.