HC notice to TN govt on 4% reservation for disabled

The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Tamil Nadu government to file within eight weeks a status report with supporting documents on implementation of the four per cent reservation for the disabled.

The court also ordered that backlog vacancies of the teaching faculty in aided private educational institutions be filled.

A division bench, comprising justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee, issued the order on a public interest litigation (PIL), seeking a direction from the court to the state government to strictly implement the reservation and fill up the vacancies.

The PIL was filed by the College Students and Graduates Association of the Blind, Chennai and the All India Confederation of the Blind, New Delhi.

The petitioners submitted that as on date, data showed there are about 4,000 eligible visually challenged and other disabled people who have cleared NET/SLET/DTE/B.Ed/M.Phil/ Ph.D, eligible to be appointed as teachers or faculty in the government and government-aided educational institutions.

They pointed out that as per the Disabilities Act 2016, four per cent of total vacancies in all aided educational institutions, put together with effect from April 19, 2017, should be reserved for people with disabilities.

It is settled law that the legislature and the executive must act in tandem and in a concerted way to implement the Act and rules, they said, adding that since the legislature has fulfilled their role in enacting the law, it is mandatory on the part of executive to monitor and ensure its compliance.

All aided private institutions have meticulously adopted the choice of reservation with respect to caste and community but not taken any steps for implementing the reservation for the persons with disabilities, the petitioners alleged.

Charging educational institutions getting budgetary allocations and grants with violating the Act, the petitioners said the PIL was to seek relief by making them implement Section 34 of the Reservation with Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, providing for the four per cent quota.